The Beginning
by Goth Albino Angel
Summary: The second and probably last sequel to THE ASSASSIN COMES This picks up right after A WHOLE NEW WORLD Check it out and see how Chloe deals with becoming queen of the Jackals while coming to terms with her feelings for Jasmine. Don't own show just the plot
1. Chapter 1

_**NEW STORY! This should be the last one of this series and then I'll work on a different Chlasmine fic. Check out this one for now, though.**_

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**Previously, on The Nine Lives of Chloe King**

_When she caught sight of them, Lilah snarled and stood in a defensive position. _

"_Easy," Safire told her. "We don't want to hurt you." _

"_Then why are you here?" the girl growled. _

"_Because there's someone we want __**you**__ to hurt." Safire replied. _

"_Oh really?" Lilah raised an eyebrow. "And who might that be?" _

_Safire took a breath before saying, "Chloe and Jasmine."_

_**One**_

Lilah stared at Safire for a moment in utter shock. "This is a joke, right?" she asked slowly.

"No," Safire sighed. "We need you to attack Chloe so that Jasmine will attack you. Then you have to give Jasmine a wound that _seems_" Safire put extra emphasis on 'seems' to make sure Lilah got it. "fatal so that Chloe can finally admit she loves Jasmine."

"Why?" Lilah inquired.

"Because we've tried _**everything**_!" Felina groaned. "I even had to kill a potential boyfriend for Chloe just so she could be single for Jasmine."

"The other night, they were _so close_ to revealing their feelings to each other," Valentina sighed.

"Well, at least Chloe was." Meredith pointed out. "Jasmine's already told Chloe that she loves her, but Chloe's reluctant to express the same."

"If you were to make it **seem** as though Jasmine is dying," Raton explained, also putting emphasis on 'seem'. "Then Chloe would try to save her. If you do it properly enough, then Chloe will think that she can't save Jasmine, begin crying and admit that she loves her."

Lilah laughed mockingly. "And why would I want to help those two?"

"Because if you don't, then the entire world is going to fall apart completely." Valentina murmured. "Diseases will spread faster, people will begin dying of unknown causes, the world will go to complete ruin."

Lilah still looked dubious, so Valentina added, "The humans will tear down the forests and expose us all to the sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air. Mai need air more than most species; you'd be the ones to die out first, leaving the humans to try and find a cure."

Lilah's eyes narrowed. "The _playthings_ will get to live longer?" she growled. "I don't think so! Alright, I'll help you." Lilah glared at them contemplatively. "But we aren't friends."

Safire shrugged. "Never said we were."

Lilah glared at her again, but said nothing otherwise.

Felina moved closer to Valentina and whispered, "That's not actually going to happen, is it?"

Valentina gave her a subtle headshake and replied, "It was just to get her to agree."

"The only thing we have to do is figure out how we're going to-."

Just then a scream rent the air followed by growls and more screams. They looked over to the entrance of the village and found several Jackals coming through while the ones already in attacked the Mai. Warriors were fighting back, but the Jackals had used the element of surprise. Safire, Felina, Raton, Dimitri and Lilah glanced at each other before jumping into action. Running at the attacking Jackals, they began throwing punches left and right. Felina, of course, had the most progress, battling them back while Mai reinforcements came. Felina saw a flash of blonde hair followed by a mass of brunette and knew that Chloe had arrived with Jasmine in tow. She smiled. _This is the perfect way to have the attack play out._ She thought as she ripped the head off of an unsuspecting Jackal. As the fight raged on, more Jackals began falling; obviously they underestimated how many Mai were in the village.

A tall muscular Jackal seemed to be doing the most damage and Felina was about to go for him when she saw Jasmine running at the large demigod. "Jasmine, no!" she screamed, but it was too late; Jasmine jumped on the large Jackal's back and began biting and scratching at him. Chloe saw what was happening and instantly ran over to help.

_What is she __**doing?**_ Felina growled to herself as she shoved three knives through the hearts of four Jackals.

The large Jackal was trying to dislodge Jasmine as Chloe battled him from the front. The Jackal sent a large hand out and wrapped it around Chloe's throat, lifting her off her feet. Jasmine gasped as the Jackal promptly made to break Chloe's neck and she quickly headbutted the Jackal from behind. He dropped Chloe as he stumbled, clutching his head. Chloe dropped to her hands and knees, gasping for air as the Jackal reached back and pulled Jasmine off his back and slammed her to the ground. Everyone else had stopped to watch the fight as both girls stood again, glaring at the large man in front of them.

The Jackal stopped for a moment and sniffed the air, a malicious smile crossing his mouth. "Well, well, well," he sneered, moving closer. "Two mates willing to fight for each other… to die for each other." Felina gasped and made a run at the large Jackal, but a smaller one took her attention.

"M-mates?" Chloe murmured, looking up at the man in confusion.

"Ooh, you didn't know?" he mocked.

Chloe glanced at Jasmine and asked, "Y-you're my mate?"

Jasmine looked at her and they merely stared for a moment, but the large Jackal had other plans. Picking Jasmine up by her throat, he dug his dirty nails into her thin flesh and began squeezing; if the bloodloss didn't kill her then the strangling would.

"No!" Chloe screamed, jumping up and kicking the Jackal in the stomach. He flew backwards into a tree as he released his grip on Jasmine. Felina hurriedly finished off the Jackal she was fighting and raced over to Jasmine as Chloe continued bombing the large demigod with punches and kicks. Felina pressed a hand to Jasmine's throat and felt her pulse fading. Valentina and Meredith were running over when a scream rent the air and everyone stared at Chloe. The blonde was kneeling on the ground, clutching her head and whimpering.

"No, Jasmine!" Chloe cried, looking back at the other girl.

Felina could see her eyes rapidly changing green as she blinked the tears out of them. Chloe tried to get up to fight, but she fell back to the ground, clutching her stomach as her body convulsed. _She can't fight in this life while Jasmine's dying. _Felina realized. _She's sick! THIS is what we were going to do to her? I have to save Jasmine!_

Working quickly, Felina took off her trench coat and wrapped it around a shaking Jasmine as she tore off her shirt and began cleaning the wound in Jasmine's neck. Glancing at Chloe, she saw her cousin getting better and managing to stand. Safire saw what she was doing and joined in trying to make Jasmine better. At last, the blood stopped flowing and Jasmine opened her eyes again, blinking to clear her vision.

"Have to… help Chloe." she groaned, attempting to sit up.

"No," Valentina cooed, pushing her back down. "You need rest."

Jasmine glared at her and shoved her hand away, gripping the ground to stand. She glanced over at where Chloe was still trying to fight the large Jackal and snarled. Running at the large man, the tan girl used Chloe to form a distraction so she could surprise him with a punch in the jaw. The Jackal staggered backwards and growled at them both. Chloe looked to Jasmine and the girls smiled at each other; running at their foe, they both delivered mirrored punches and kicks, finally forcing the Jackal to surrender. Felina strode over and placed two knives at both his neck and chest to make sure he stayed in place.

"Who are you?" Chloe demanded, clutching her stomach but trying not to show any pain.

"The name's Kenon." The Jackal snarled lowly.

"What were you trying to do?" Jasmine snarled, also clutching her stomach.

"Wipe out the major Mai tribes. We started with Brazil since they were most vicious, but once my men find out I've been taken hostage, they'll all attack at once. You won't be able to warn the other Prides in time."

"Wanna bet?" Chloe asked lowly, pulling out her spare cell phone.

"I thought you put your phone in your bag." Amy exclaimed.

"I put my **main** phone in my bag," Chloe told her. "This is my backup. I never go anywhere without it."

Jasmine moved closer to Chloe as Safire strode over to help Felina tie the Jackal up. Dialing all eleven of the other Tribes, including Nigeria, Chloe put the phone on speaker. At last, eleven voices answered and Chloe cleared her throat. "Alright, roll call. Josef?

"Here."

"Gregory?

"Uh, h-here."

"Alfred?"

"Buen."

"Jacque?"

"Ici."

"Sébastien?"

"Y-yes."

"Nikolas?"

"Bishkopas."

"Orlando?"

"Bishkopas."

"Anton?"

"Bishkopas."

"Hei-Ting?"

"Your Majesty."

"Sheng-Hei?"

"Your Highness."

"Aniche?"

"My Queen."

"Good that's everyone. Ok, I called up the humans and the Mai leaders because we've got a bad situation. Jackals are planning to destroy all of the main Mai Prides in the world. I need you all to trust each other (and I mean _**trust**_ each other) and begin sending Mai everywhere. Keep some of the native Mai at home, but send Mai to all of the other Prides as well so that we can all help each other. The Jackals attacking the Brazilian Mai have been beaten down, but I will ask Francesca to send Mai to other Prides too. Please, just try and work together?"

"A question first." Jacque said. "Why do they call you 'queen'?"

"Once this mess with the Jackals is sorted out, I'll call all of the leaders to San Francisco. Be sure to bring some guards with you, but for now, everyone needs help. Got that?"

They all answered in the affirmative and Chloe disconnected the line. Turning to the others, Chloe found Francesca looking at her speculatively. "So they willingly believe this story of you being queen?" she asked.

"I don't know," Chloe replied. "But we'll find out _after_ this Jackal mess is finished. Are you willing to help them?" Francesca raised an eyebrow. "Remember that they are your kind, no matter what country they live in. They are Mai and all of the Mai, no matter how reluctantly, are fighting for the humans as well. Are you going to be the only one left out? The only one not included in the unity that will make everyone stronger in the end?"

Francesca met Chloe's defiantly determined gaze with a curious one of her own. Slowly, she knelt down on one knee with her head bent and said, "I will do whatever it takes to serve you, my queen."

Everyone around, including Chloe, Lilah and Jasmine, gasped at this and the rest of the Mai hurried to copy their leader. Chloe smiled at Jasmine and the two of them, plus Felina, began picking out the Mai that should go to the different tribes. Once all that was set up, everyone began preparing to leave.

"We'll make our way through the forest with the other Mai and then we'll all get on separate planes to different places." Safire was explaining to the group. "We need to get back to San Francisco to make sure that they aren't going to attack the Pride there. Everyone ready?"

They all responded in the affirmative and everyone set off. Chloe was nervous as they began making their way back into the woods, knowing that something bad was ahead. Pushing this thought to the back of her mind for the time being, the blonde focused on following the others through the forest.

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**First chapter ready to go. This is where the whole, Chloe ruling over Jackals thing comes in. Let's see how Chloe and Jasmine deal with finding out that they're mates. Though, that probably won't come until AFTER the Jackals have been taken care of, huh? Review and tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Here's the second chapter for all those who are waiting. I am supposed to upload all of these today because otherwise… bad karma for the rest of the year. So, hope I get chapters three and four up in time. For now, enjoy the chapter.**_

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_**Two**_

Arriving in San Francisco, Chloe glanced around and looked to Valentina. The tan woman nodded and began making her way through the streets toward the safe house she'd sent the rest of the Pride to hide. Doing a secret knock on the door, Valentina stepped inside with the others and looked around. Many of the Mai crept closer to get a curious look at the newcomers, but Valentina held up a hand. "First things first, we need scouts to search the city for any signs of Jackals."

"Unnecessary." Chloe murmured, making Valentina turn to her. "The Jackals know that San Francisco is Mai territory and they made a deal with us not to enter San Francisco any more in return for the life of Kai's father."

Valentina nodded. "Well, then. What we need to do is have five Mai go to each of the other Mai Prides to help them fight off the Jackals. Any volunteers?"

All of the Mai raised their hands and Valentina nodded approvingly. Once plans had been made for travel, the group headed to Felina's underground home to get more money and supplies before Chloe threw her hands in the air in agitation. "Can't we just rent a jet?" she growled, rubbing her forehead. "Public planes take too long! The Jackals could already be attacking."

Valentina looked to Felina, who nodded and took out a little extra before pulling a cell phone from her pocket. "Hey Monty?" she asked. "Yeah, remember that favor you owe me? I'd like to call it in now. See if you can find me a jet. Something really fast."

After a moment, Felina nodded and shut the phone. "By the time we get to the airport, the jet will be ready for us. Let's go."

Paul and Amy sighed as they realized that they were going to be spending a few more days on a plane. The taxi raced to the airport and everyone jumped out quickly. Heading into the airport, Felina looked around the runway and saw a sleek black jet with its engines humming idly. "There it is." She said, picking up her bags. Valentina and the others followed her into it and set their bags down.

Felina went up to talk to the pilot for a moment before coming back with a smile and removing her mask. "We'll be taking off in two minutes. Get comfortable because we'll be in New York in an hour." Chloe nodded and looked out the window, chewing her lip in worry.

"Chloe," Jasmine murmured. "Calm down. We'll get there in time."

"But what if we don't?" Chloe asked, her voice cracking just the slightest bit. "What if we're too late and all of the Mai are either dead or injured? I'd have let everyone down."

Jasmine drew Chloe into her arms and Chloe hugged her, crying silently into her chest. Jasmine stroked her back soothingly and Chloe looked up at Jasmine with a smile. "We'll always get there in time." she murmured to the blonde. Chloe nodded, the soft brown eyes staring into her own blue making her calmer. They relaxed slightly for the hour long trip and when they finally arrived in New York, Chloe and Jasmine were the first ones off.

"Leave your things on the jet." Felina called to the others. "Only bring weapons. Let's go."

Soon, all of the Mai and humans were racing for the Harlem Mai Tribe's hideout. Hearing screams coming from the building, they didn't bother going to the backdoor, but instead, Jasmine kicked in the front. Flooding inside, they found Mai and Jackals battling each other with human warriors trying to help the Mai as much as possible. Chloe looked around her and her eyes grew hard; putting two fingers to her mouth, she whistled and all eyes flicked to her.

"What's going on here?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We'll destroy the Mai!" One Jackal shouted, running at Chloe. Jasmine jumped in his way and punched him into a wall.

"Why do _you_ want to destroy the Mai?" Chloe demanded of the largest Jackal, who seemed to be the leader of the pack.

"Because they… because they're… because they're territorial!" he shouted at last.

"And Jackals aren't?" Chloe asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, but… there are more of them than us!" Chloe walked forward until she was standing right next to the Jackal. He was taller than her by at least a foot and his brown hair was matted and hung in his hazel eyes as he glared down at her.

"Ok, what's the real problem you have with Mai?" she asked, sensing that there was something deeper. She was proven right when the Jackal's emotions went from anger to grief.

"A Mai killed my mother, my sisters and my little brother." he sighed.

"Did they do something to the Mai first?" Chloe asked softly.

"No, he just… showed up one day and massacred the place."

Chloe tapped her chin speculatively. "It could have been someone sent by a past Order leader." She said slowly.

"Then it's the humans' fault?" The Jackal demanded.

"No, that member was probably killed. The Mai are trying to make peace with the humans now. Perhaps the Mai and the Jackals could reach some sort of truce?" Chloe asked, holding out her hand.

"What for?" the Jackal asked gruffly.

"So that neither of our kinds have to go through any more bloodshed. Don't you get tired of fighting over the same old thing time after time?" Chloe asked.

The Jackal looked at her contemplatively for a moment. "Well, maybe. But that doesn't erase what the Mai did!" he growled.

"No, it doesn't. I'm sure all of the Mai here regret what that Mai did to your family, but fighting and shedding more blood won't make it better. It will only cause more pain for other people. Would you wish your pain on someone else?"

The Jackal stared at her and rubbed the back of his head before sighing. "No, I guess not…"

Chloe smiled. "Good. Maybe we can come to a conclusion when this mess is sorted out with the other Prides as well. For now, do you mind helping the injured get some medical treatment?"

"You want me to help my enemies?" the Jackal asked in confusion, to which Chloe nodded.

"I want you to help your enemies and your pack. That's only the first step to stopping all the hatred. For now, I have to go to Spain to make sure the Jackals there don't make this mistake." The Jackal nodded and Chloe turned to leave.

"Hey," the blonde turned back with a raised eyebrow. "What's your name?"

"Chloe."

"Thanks Chloe. By the way, I'm Laurence."

Chloe smiled. "Nice to meet you."

She and the rest of the group headed for the jet and Felina laughed as they were boarding. "You were named wrong." She chuckled to Chloe. "You should be Chloe Silvertongue. I can **not** believe you just talked an entire pack of Jackals out of attacking Mai."

Chloe shrugged. "It may have worked here, but it won't work everywhere."

Valentina nodded in agreement. "I know you want to settle things peacefully Chloe, but sometimes, fighting isn't just the better option, but the only option."

Chloe sighed and prepared for a half hour plane trip to Spain. Upon arrival, Chloe knew automatically that a fight would have to be issued. Jackals were all over the place, attacking humans and Mai alike. "Felina," she called. "You, Dimitri, and the rest fight off as many as you can. Jasmine, Amy, Paul, help me find the leader."

Everyone nodded and Chloe took off in the direction of the Order building. Gasping as she took in the sight before her, Chloe slid to a stop outside the building. Blood dripped from every surface and dead bodies were strewn everywhere. There were still people fighting inside and so Jasmine and Chloe went first to make sure that Amy and Paul were kept as safe as possible. Once inside, Chloe glanced around and saw three large Jackals fighting a multitude of Mai and winning. Chloe put her fingers to her mouth and whistled to get everyone's attention.

"Where is the leader of this Pack?" she demanded of the three Jackals. One of them, the shortest and most muscular stepped forward. Chloe sighed and asked, "Do you want to do this the easy way and just talk things out or the hard way, in which case we fight."

The Jackal cracked its knuckles and charged at her. Chloe sighed and ducked into a fighting crouch, waiting as the man charged at her. With a roar, the Jackal swiftly made to punch Chloe in the jaw, but she ducked and sent a kick at one of his knees, causing it to falter slightly. The Jackal glared at her and tried to grab one of her arms. Chloe spun out of the way and sent a punch at his jaw, making him stagger. Chloe lunged forward and punched the Jackal again, but the muscular man sent his hand at her chest as her fist connected with his cheek. Chloe flew into a wall as the Jackal fell to the ground for a moment. Chloe slowly stood, clutching her chest as the Jackal charged at her again. Chloe waited until the last second before jumping onto his back and letting him slam into the wall.

The Jackal shook bits of the wall off his head and looked up as Chloe delivered another punch to his face. The Jackal reached up and swiped at her stomach, causing Chloe to scream as her shirt was ripped away. The Jackal hadn't done much damage to her skin, but for some reason the scar on her stomach was very tender. Jasmine, Amy and Paul glanced at it and gasped at how black it was. Jasmine's hand flew to her own stomach as she watched Chloe step back to give herself some space. The Jackal got an idea and swiped at Chloe's stomach again, making her fall to her knees in pain. The Jackal stood and bore down on her, raising his fist to deliver a blow to her head that would crack her skull. As his fist began descending, Chloe closed her eyes to await the blow.

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**There you go, chapter two. Send me a review and tell me what you think of this so far while I post chapter three.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**YES! Managed to get it uploaded in time. Thank you and enjoy the chapter**_

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_**Three**_

Chloe waited for the blow to come, but only heard a pained grunt. Opening her eyes, Chloe saw Jasmine beating the Jackal back away from her. Chloe smiled and jumped in to help her friend; both girls beat at the Jackal until it finally just reached out blindly and grabbed Jasmine's leg, slamming her into the ground as hard as he could. Chloe looked at her unconscious best friend and growled low in her chest.

As her anger built further, Chloe felt her eyes constricting and her teeth sharpening. Flexing her claws, Chloe charged the Jackal and jumped up, clawing at his face and neck in her anger. Biting down on the Jackals shoulder, she felt him try and grab her and quickly bit down on his hand as well. The anger continued building and Chloe couldn't control it, finally letting it free. Everything was a blur as Chloe felt her fists and claws flying at the man that had hurt Jasmine, _her_ Jasmine. When she finally snapped out of it, someone was shaking her and she was looking down at her bloody hands. Turning, Chloe saw a worried looking Jasmine staring back at her.

"Are you alright?" Chloe asked, reaching a hand up to stroke Jasmine's cheek. The tan girl flinched away slightly and Chloe felt the hurt pool in her stomach.

"Maybe we should get your hands cleaned first." Jasmine said softly. Chloe nodded and looked back down at the Jackal. His head was smashed into the tiles of the floor and it didn't look like he was breathing.

"I-I didn't mean to kill him." She murmured, staring at the corpse in horror.

"But the Pack thanks you." A voice said nearby. Chloe looked around at the two remaining Jackals. "Thank you for freeing us from his tyrannical reign. We are to serve you now."

Chloe stared at them for a moment before nodding. "Will some of your pack members come with us to help stop the other Packs from attacking the other Prides while the rest stay here and try to help all those who have been injured?" Chloe asked.

"Of course, Alpha. Right away."

Chloe nodded and she and Jasmine walked outside with Amy and Paul close behind. Looking around, Chloe found that the Jackals were trying to help the injured Mai onto gurneys to take them to different healing centers.

"How long was I out of it?" Chloe asked.

"When I woke up, you were still beating him even though he'd stopped moving. When you finally stopped beating him, you just sat and stared at your hands for maybe ten minutes?"

Chloe nodded and looked around at everything. The Jackals were helping the Mai and the Mai were letting them help.

"Alfred?" she called. The Spanish leader appeared moments later, leaning heavily on a weary-looking Valentina. "The Pack leader is dead and they have made me the new Alpha. They are going to help anyone who is injured get some medical attention. See to it that that happens, all right?" Alfred nodded and slowly let go of Valentina.

"Let's go." Chloe murmured, heading back for the jet. As they were heading for the jet, they picked the others up from all over the city as well.

"What happened?" Meredith gasped when she saw Chloe covered in blood and bruises.

"I killed the pack leader." Chloe sighed. "Now I'm the new Alpha. And I don't remember a thing."

Meredith raised an eyebrow and looked to Valentina, but the tan woman shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. They all piled back onto the jet with four of the Jackals from the pack. Chloe stared at the seat in front of her and hadn't bothered to clean her hands. "Chloe…" Jasmine murmured.

"No," Chloe told her. "If I know the French, I'm going to need this blood."

Jasmine's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she left it alone and sat back in her seat. Everyone was very apprehensive as they were landing and Felina went first just in case. To their surprise, there were hordes of Mai protecting the humans from the Jackals. Several Mai jumped a Jackal that had nearly ripped a woman's head off. Chloe nodded to them as they continued fighting back, but she made her way smoothly through the city. Looking around for the Mai home, Chloe found it being smashed up by half the Jackals in the pack.

Chloe didn't bother whistling this time; she merely walked up to one of the Jackals, tapped his shoulder and made him turn around. "Where's your Alpha?" she asked calmly.

"Who wants to know?" the Jackal sneered.

Chloe's eyes flashed and she grabbed the Jackal by his collar, bringing his face down to hers. "The Uniter wants to know. Where is it?"

The Jackal growled at her and spit in her face. Chloe used her free hand to wipe the saliva from her cheek and asked, "Is that some new sign of respect I don't know about? Cause it's been happening a lot."

Turning, she glared at the Jackal and struck him across the jaw; the crack of knuckles on skin rang through the area as the Jackal fell to the ground unconscious. "Alright, listen!" Chloe hissed at the other Jackals. "I'm not in the mood for games. I've just spent the last two months traveling the world to unite the Mai and the humans. Now, I have to unite the Mai Prides and you all decide to do this. I just killed a Jackal three times my size and took his pack. Who wants to be next?"

All of the Jackals looked at her apprehensively and said, "Pierre's holding the French Mai leader hostage in his office." Chloe nodded and made to move forward, but the Jackals blocked her path. Chloe growled at them and they growled back. Chloe backed up a step and leaped at them, claws and teeth bared. Jasmine and Felina jumped in to help and soon the Jackals were nothing more than a heap of skin.

"Thanks." Chloe murmured to her friends.

"Let's just get this guy out." Felina sighed.

They moved swiftly through the building until they arrived at Jacque's office. Jasmine kicked the door in and they gasped at seeing a dead Jacque lying next to his desk. The Jackal in the room—a large, muscular man with bulging arms and cropped black hair—laughed at their surprise and said, "Your leader is dead. Surrender or be killed."

"He wasn't our leader." Jasmine said, crossing her arms.

"We're just the reinforcements." Felina snarled, taking out a dagger.

"And you might want to watch what you say." Chloe growled.

The Jackal laughed and asked, "Who are you supposed to be? Charlie's Kitties?"

Chloe snarled at him and said, "Look, we don't want to fight you because you won't win. I don't want to kill another pack leader so either draw a truce or fight."

The Jackal laughed once more and replied, "Like I'll call a truce for Mai."

He lunged for Chloe and she raised her hand, scratching across his face before punching him in the nose. The Jackal backed up for a moment and Felina took that chance to deliver three quick jabs to his stomach, making him double over in pain, giving Jasmine the opportunity to cuff his cheek. The Jackal growled at them and took out a knife. Jasmine gasped as it headed for Chloe and she quickly tackled the blonde as Felina reached out and caught the knife.

The Jackal's eyes widened and he turned, jumping out the window. The three girls ran to the window to find that he had accidentally been caught on a part of the building before he landed and had broken his neck. Chloe felt a rush of power and knelt down for a moment as other minds surged into hers. When she stood again, the Jackals were crowding around their fallen leader and looking up at her.

"That's the new Alpha!" one of them called.

"But she's a Mai!" another shouted.

"Who cares as long as Pierre is dead."

A cheer rose up and Chloe gave Jasmine a small smile. "Come on," Jasmine said softly, leading the way out of the building. The Jackals crowded around Chloe and bowed to her.

"What are your wishes, Alpha?" One of them asked softly.

"Could you help anyone that's injured while I'm helping Ukraine fight off the Jackals there."

"Right away." The Jackals scattered to help clean up the disaster they'd made.

"Let's keep going." Chloe said happily. "But first, I need to find a sink." Jasmine and Felina chuckled as they guided her to the nearest restroom.

"That was easier than Spain at least." Felina pointed out.

"Yeah, but helping the other Mai Prides was also easier than Spain." Chloe countered, playfully batting at her cousin once her hands were clean. Felina laughed and Jasmine led them back to the jet.

"Five down…" Jasmine murmured.

"Four to go." Felina finished.

Chloe sat back and opted to try and take a nap before their arrival.

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_**Tada! Chapter three. Next chapter, Chloe's gonna find out a little fact that might make dealing with the Jackals a bit easier. Review and click next to find out what's going to happen.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Here's Chapter Four for all y'all still readin', Check it out.**_

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_**Four**_

The group looked around in amazement. The Jackals were communing with the Mai, not even bothering to fight them. "What the…?" Chloe muttered, looking around at them all.

"Ah, Chloe!" Everyone turned to see Orlando and Nikolas striding toward them with twin smiles on their faces. "Wonderful of you to drop by again."

"The Jackals…" Chloe murmured, trailing off as she looked at them.

"Yes, well, it seems that there is a Jackal that has killed all of the other Alphas and has set Jackals in their places so that he can control the Packs. He hates Mai and wants us all destroyed. So if you find him, then you can stop this madness."

Chloe groaned and sat down on the ground for a moment. "This just keeps getting better." She growled under her breath as she stood again. "Alright. Thank you both and I hope to see you soon."

Both men nodded to her and bowed as the group climbed back aboard the jet. Chloe stopped for a moment and looked back. "How did you get the Jackals to stop attacking?"

Orlando laughed as Nikolas said, "We merely offered them places to stay and clean up. They took the opportunity."

Chloe nodded to them with a smile before heading back into the jet with the others. She sighed again and said, "Just when you think things are going to get better, some guy wants to ruin it." Jasmine put an arm around her shoulder comfortingly and Chloe leaned her head on the older girl's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Chloe." Safire said. "At least we didn't have to fight in Ukraine. That means we'll have more energy to fight in Russia… if they haven't already gotten rid of the Jackals."

Chloe snorted and said, "The Russians attempted to put the Mai in jail. What makes you think they've gotten rid of the Jackals?"

Raton chuckled and sat back. Half an hour later, the group exited the jet to see humans, Mai and Jackals alike strewn everywhere while blood dripped into the sewer grates. Many were still screaming and running as fast as they could as the Mai attempted to fight off the Jackals. Chloe sighed and blew another whistle to get attention.

"Where's the leader of this pack?" she asked wearily, walking up to a teenaged Jackal about her age.

"Why?" the Jackal asked warily.

"Because the leader of the Mai needs to speak with him." Chloe replied.

The Jackal looked to his comrades and they all growled at Chloe. "Just kill her, Dimitrius." One of them growled. Dimitrius nodded and made to grab Chloe.

She caught his hand and said, "Look, I don't want to have to fight you. I only want to speak with your Alpha. Would you rather be beaten or unharmed?"

Dimitrius surveyed her for a moment and nodded, taking his hand away. "Follow me." he murmured. Jasmine, Felina and Chloe followed him through the streets of the city to a large warehouse like building. Ushering them inside, Dimitrius took them to one of the rooms and knocked.

"Who is it?" a feminine voice demanded.

"Nikolai? There are some girls here to speak to you."

An agitated groan was heard before the female voice ordered, "Send them in." Dimitrius opened the door for them and gestured for them to enter. Felina went first with Chloe behind her and Jasmine last. Behind an ordinary desk, poring over papers, was a short, thin brown-haired woman with sharp grey eyes and a slight frown.

"Who are you?" she asked, half-curious half-suspicious.

"We're Mai." Chloe said, pointing out the obvious.

"We came to talk to you about why you're attacking our kind." Felina added.

The woman Chloe assumed Nikolai rubbed her temples. "The Mai seriously sent three teenagers to me? And one of you is still relatively new? That is pathetic."

"We weren't sent here." Chloe told her, working to keep signs of her anger from showing. "We came because I'm a peacemaker. I wanted to ask you to stop attacking the Mai so we can settle this in a more… peaceful manner."

Nikolai snorted derisively. "Peaceful? I don't think so. Why don't you just run back to your Pride leader and wait for my boys to rip you to shreds."

Chloe stepped forward. "Why do you want us ripped to shreds?" she inquired. "What did we do to you?"

"You ruined my home!" Nikolai screamed. "Russia was mine; my boys and I were able to move freely. Then, a few days perhaps a week or two ago, Mai flooded Russia. Everywhere I went, all I smelled was cat. It's like they were being held back and then the dam broke."

Chloe rubbed her arm for a moment and said, "Well, actually, they were being held in jail before their Uniter came and set them free."

"What?" Nikolai snarled. "Where is this Uniter of yours? I'm going to tear him apart."

"Well," Jasmine said slowly. "You could, but her cousin wouldn't be too happy about that."

"And neither would her Protector." Felina added softly.

"They can just try and stop me. Where are they?"

"Standing right in front of you." Chloe said softly as her eyes constricted and her teeth lengthened, getting ready for a fight.

Nikolai growled and jumped over the desk, running straight for Chloe. Chloe pulled her fist back and snapped it forward, nailing Nikolai in the chin. "I guess all dogs are the same." Chloe sighed, shaking her hand out to relieve the sting. "They all charge in nose-first."

Nikolai growled at her and charged once more, this time taking care in her footing so she could jump back in case another surprise attack. Chloe smiled and jumped onto Nikolai's back, using her weight to push the Jackal into the door. Nikolai stood with a snarl and lunged at Chloe, making a grab for her neck. Chloe moved out of the way and the Jackal fell on her face.

"Ooh, that looked like it hurt." Jasmine murmured, cringing.

Chloe skittered out of Nikolai's grasp over and over again and the Jackal grew more and more frustrated. At last, Nikolai roared and made one last lunge at Chloe and Chloe just barely moved out of the way in time. Nikolai's claws caught on her arm and they both slammed into the wall, Nikolai harder than Chloe, but it still hurt them both. Nikolai slid to the ground in a daze as Chloe stood and brushed herself off.

Nikolai looked up at her and groaned. "Just kill me, since that's obviously what you're here to do."

"We don't want to kill you." Chloe said in confusion.

"But you smell like other Pack alphas." Nikolai stated, slowly getting to her feet. "Didn't you kill them?"

"I only killed one and that was his own stupidity." Chloe replied. "The other one committed suicide and I got his Pack by default."

Nikolai stared up at her. "You are different than any Mai I've ever encountered." She said at last. "I will go along with your truce then, Miss…"

"Chloe."

"I will go along with your truce, Chloe." Nikolai held out a hand and Chloe smiled as she shook it.

"Thanks. Do you think you could get your boys to help the injured and clean up all the blood?"

Nikolai sighed in resignation and nodded, pressing her finger to her forehead. Chloe felt a slight ripple of energy and knew that Nikolai had contacted the rest of her pack and told them what was going on. Walking to the window, Chloe looked down to see the Jackals begin helping the Mai and humans that were injured while others went around gathering the corpses. Turning back to Nikolai, Chloe nodded to her with a smile.

"Thank you for your help, Nikolai, but now we have to get to Nigeria to make sure my warriors are getting this same treatment."

Nikolai nodded with a speculative look and Felina led Chloe and Jasmine out. "That could have gone a little better." Chloe sighed.

"You didn't lay a hand on her though." Felina said, cheerfully. "You just wore her down until she surrendered. You'll make a great queen with the way you use different methods of achieving what needs to be done."

Chloe looked at her hands as she and the others boarded the jet. "But if the brilliant mastermind behind this idiotic plan isn't in Russia, then there's only one other place I can think of that he might be. I'm just praying I'm wrong."

* * *

**Chloe's got a hunch. That means something's amiss. Let's hope she's wrong, but I doubt she is. Review me and tell me whatcha think. I'll get right on writing chapter five so that I can have it uploaded sooner. **


	5. Real Chapter five

**_Sorry guys. I just now realized that I hadn't put in what happened with the Hong Kong Jackals. So this is what happened. I think it will be SOMEWHAT surprising, but I'll let you guys be the judges of that, eh? _****_Flame if you must, but know you will be laughed at._**

**_And no, I don't own the Nine Lives of Chloe King._**

* * *

**_FIVE_**

As soon as the jet touched down in Hong Kong, Chloe jumped out of her seat and raced for the door. Flinging it open, she jumped down the stairs and looked around, her eyes widening. It was like some weird scene from a movie. A sea of Mai and humans was fighting a swarm of Jackals. Chloe's eyes stayed round as she saw tons of Karate moves that she thought were fake. The swordsmen were even doing battle, their swords and shuriken clashing and clanging with others.

Chloe stared around, trying to locate Hei-Ting and Sheng-Hei. She found them in the thick of the fighting. They were back-to-back fighting five Jackals at once. Chloe watched as Hei-Ting ducked down to avoid a stab to the head but he didn't come back up and Chloe grew worried.

Without thinking she dove into the fray and began making her way swiftly toward the last place she had seen him. Just as she was nearing Sheng-Hei, a large Jackal stepped in her path and an equally as large Mai blocked her other side. Chloe looked back in horror as they both raised their weapons to strike each other, not seeming to notice that she was between them.

_They're going to chop off my head!_ She thought frantically.

"Chloe!" Chloe turned at Jasmine's cry and Jasmine threw a sword her way. "Catch!"

Thinking quickly, probably do to fright, Chloe reached out her hand and caught the sword just as the two warriors on either side of her made to strike. Chloe ducked and left the sword in her place, making the two men look down in confusion. She jumped back up and pushed both swords off of her own. The Jackals snarled at her and made to cut her head off, intentionally this time. Chloe raised her sword and met his swing with a loud _clang_. Somewhere in her mind, the blonde was wondering how she was using the sword correctly, but the rest of her was focused on the attack strategies she could pull off without hurting anyone too badly.

Pushing the Jackal's sword off of hers once more, Chloe skittered backwards in a sort of mocking dance so the Jackal would follow her. When it did, snarling as it got closer, Chloe lunged forward and sank the sword into its stomach before making a vertical arch with her hands and arms together and splitting the top part of the Jackal in half. As his body fell, Chloe made her way toward the center of the fighting again, blocking swords every so often.

Finally, she made it to where Sheng-Hei was still fighting, but Hei-Ting was lying on the ground and coughing up blood. Leaning down, Chloe helped the man to his feet and looked down to see the wound in his stomach. "This doesn't look good."

"Get him to elevated ground!" Sheng-Hei commanded.

"But what about you?" Chloe asked in concern.

"I will be fine, your highness, but neither of you should be in this fight. Lives are too valuable to waste, no matter how many you have."

Chloe nodded and began carrying Hei-Ting out of the fray as best she could while dodging swords, fists and flying stars. At last, after what felt like an eternity, Chloe emerged from the battle with Hei-Ting still over her shoulder. Helping him over to the jet, she laid him near the stairs and looked up at the others. Most of them had gone into the fight to help against the Jackals, but Meredith, Valentina, Amy and Paul had stayed behind because they knew that they wouldn't be much help without swords.

"Help me wrap his stomach wound." Chloe called.

Meredith disappeared inside and came back moments later with a first aid kit while Valentina shredded and tied both her and Paul's shirts together to make a makeshift gauze. Chloe took the kit from her mother with a nod and began tearing away Hei-Ting's shirt. When the wound was finally bared, Chloe began cleaning it as gently as she could so as not to cause so much pain. Hei-Ting took the pain with only a murmured 'ow' and gritted teeth. When the wound appeared to be clean enough, Valentina handed Chloe the gauze and Chloe wrapped it tightly around Hei-Ting's midsection before tying it off and cutting the ends with her teeth.

"Thank you, My Queen." Hei-Ting murmured when she let him up. Chloe smiled and helped him stand; he leaned on her for a moment before straightening up.

"I must go back into battle." He told her. "Thank you for your assistance."

"Wait, what?" Chloe asked, her eyes wide as he disappeared back into the fray. "No, no, no! He'll be **killed**!" Chloe shrieked.

Gathering her breath, Chloe tried whistling, but it had no effect on the vigorous fighters. Panicking at the thought of another Pride leader dying Chloe tied again, but once again, nothing happened. Looking around at all of the fighting humans and demigods around her, Chloe began to feel angry. _They shouldn't be fighting each other!_ She screamed at herself. _They have a common enemy that they should be fighting together._

The anger built until Chloe was trembling with fury. Gathering together one last deep breath Chloe screamed at the top of her lungs, "**_STOP FIGHTING_**!" Everything froze, even the small animals that had been cowering away from the fight. All eyes found the raging Chloe and even the Jackals looked scared.

"Why are you fighting each other?" Chloe shouted. "You all have a common enemy that you need to get rid of, but instead you waste energy and time fighting each other! That does no good and I'm certain every one of you knows that. Stop fighting and try to get along instead; maybe then, there wouldn't be so much hatred and bloodshed."

"And how do you figure that?" One of the Jackals—a tall, slender female with flowing brunette hair and sparkling black eyes—asked, stepping out of the crowd. "We are descended from two natural enemies, a cat and a dog."

"Does that mean you're an animal?" Chloe retorted. "Because I'm entirely sure the name for a female _dog_ is derogatory to a female _human_." Chloe's voice softened immensely as she continued. "We are humans, not animals. We all have a common goal and that is to stamp out whatever is hurting us. You can't hurt what's hurting you if you're busy hurting what's trying to help you."

"Help us?" the female demanded. "How are _Mai _trying to help **Jackals**?"

"Look at my group." Chloe motioned for the entire group to gather behind her. Jasmine and Felina emerged first followed closely by Raton, Safire, and Dimitri with everyone else close behind. "My group is made up of humans, Jackals and Mai because my mom is human, my cousin and I are Mai and I am the Alpha of two Jackal Packs. I don't want to become the Alpha of another if I can help it." The female studied Chloe for a moment, probably sizing her up in case of a fight.

"How did you become the Alpha of those two Packs?" the female Jackal asked at last.

"I killed the Spanish Alpha and the French Alpha committed suicide." Chloe replied.

"How did you kill the Spanish Jackal?" the Jackal went on.

"I kinda blacked out." Chloe admitted.

The woman opposite her nodded and stepped forward with her sword drawn. Chloe's eyes widened as the sword came for her and she quickly dodged, rolling to the side. The Jackal snarled at her and swung again, aiming for her right arm.

"Chloe!" Jasmine shouted.

Chloe risked a glance to see that she was motioning to something on the ground near Chloe's foot. Looking back, Chloe's heart jumped for joy at the sight of the sword. Rolling away from yet another swing, Chloe grabbed the sword and met the next swing with a parry of her own. The female Jackal looked taken aback for a moment, but her shock was quickly pushed away as Chloe pushed her sword off. The two began a kind of dance together, trading shots at each other, but never landing a single hit. Finally, the Jackal went down and tried to trip Chloe's feet from under her, but Chloe jumped at the last moment and kicked her foot out, sending the female Jackal sprawling on the ground as her sword skittered a few feet away. Chloe's sword was at her throat within minutes and the female looked up at her.

Just then, Chloe's ears flicked and she removed the sword from the Jackal's throat in time to stop another Jackal from slicing her neck. Quickly kicking this Jackal in the stomach, she kneed him in the face and head-butted him. As he fell to the ground unconscious, Chloe turned back to see that the female Jackal had reclaimed her sword. Raising her own weapon once more, Chloe expected the Jackal to start the fight again, but instead, the other female knelt on one knee and presented her sword to Chloe.

"You are a worthy fighter, young Mai. Now I understand why the humans and Mai respect you so." Chloe pressed the sword slightly and the Jackal stood again. "I am An-Mei, leading of the Hong Kong Jackals. We are now in your services, for you spared my life."

"Could you help the Hong Kong Mai and humans clean up this mess while I go help the last Pride?" Chloe asked slowly.

An-Mei turned to her Pack members. "You heard her, let's go." The Jackals immediately knelt to help fallen Mai and some began gathering the bodies of those who were beyond help.

"This fight was even bloodier than Spain!" Felina hissed, looking around at all the bodies strewn everywhere and the large pools of blood congealing in the street.

An-Mei glanced at her sheepishly and turned to Chloe. "I wish you well on your quest, Uniter." Chloe nodded and An-Mei shook her hand.

As Chloe boarded the jet with the others, she glanced back at the blood-covered street and sighed. "Why does everything have to involve bloodshed?" she murmured brokenly. She felt two arms circle her waist and looked up at Jasmine, taking comfort in the other girls embrace as they sat down.

"Let's just hope things go better in Nigeria." Jasmine murmured, stroking Chloe's hair and lulling the girl into a nap. Jasmine smiled down at the sleeping blonde and gently kissed the top of her head before slowly drifting off herself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, quick note. The chapters may be a bit shorter than I normally would do them, but I'm having several bouts of writer's block lately and it can't be helped. I hope these next two chapters are still to your liking and y'all enjoy them. Here you go**

* * *

**_SIX_**

Upon arrival in Nigeria, Chloe hurried out of the jet to make sure Kano was alright. To her dismay, it was much like the scene from France. There were Jackals everywhere attacking anything they could get their claws and fangs on. Chloe looked back to see Felina, Jasmine, Valentina and Meredith running up behind her.

"We have to find Aniche." Chloe murmured. "And fast."

Turning to the Nigerian warriors that had accompanied her, Chloe asked, "Where does the leader go to stay safe during a raid or war?"

"They are usually kept in a smaller hut, the smallest in the village, normally by the forest."

Chloe nodded and took off for he forest with Jasmine and Felina close behind and Valentina and Meredith only a little ways behind as well. Reaching the forest, Chloe gasped to see two Jackals already heading for the smallest hut. Racing to catch up with them, she jumped on the back of the more muscular Jackal and gave him a swift blow to the head. The Jackal slumped to the ground, dazed and Chloe took the opportunity to kick the other Jackal in the stomach and run for the hut.

"Aniche?" Chloe called in a panic.

"I am here, my queen." Aniche said, appearing next to her.

"Good, we have to get you out of here. Jackals are coming and-."

"They've been taken care of Chloe." Jasmine called from the doorway. "A quick decapitation on Felina's part. Come on, we need to find the leader of the pack."

Chloe nodded and held her hand out to Aniche. "We need to make sure you stay safe and the only way to do that is if you come with us."

Aniche nodded and took the blonde's hand. Chloe led her outside and they looked around at the damage. "Where do you think the leader is?" Chloe asked the older woman.

"Probably near the leader's hut." Aniche replied, already heading in that direction.

Chloe nodded and motioned for the others to follow them. As they weaved their way through the village, they stopped occasionally so that they could help the Mai and the humans battle the Jackals. At last, they made it to the leader's hut and found most of the Jackals patrolling around it.

"They probably just want to make sure their leader is safe." Felina murmured. "I can handle this."

Jasmine and Chloe glanced at each other worriedly as Felina strode into view of the Jackals. One or two took notice and attacked, but the rest didn't pay any mind to it. When Felina dispatched the two Jackals that had jumped at her, more ran at her and she continued knocking them out or injuring them. Finally, all of the Jackals attacked at once, trying to overwhelm her. As Felina fought, Chloe, Aniche, Jasmine and Meredith moved forward as Valentina joined in the fight with Felina.

Entering the hut, Chloe saw a small Jackal sitting before a fire with its eyes closed. Those eyes opened when she heard them enter and she snarled at them. "How did you get passed my guards?" she demanded.

"They're kind of busy right now." Chloe said, crossing her arms. "Who are you?"

"I am Anina." the Jackal responded, getting to her feet. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Uniter and Queen of the Mai, not to mention leader of this village and I want you to call off your warriors from attacking my people."

Anina snorted and slipped into a fighting crouch. "What makes you think I'll do that?' she hissed.

"Because I'm really not in the mood to fight." Chloe said in the dangerous tone that Jasmine had come to fear. Anina laughed and leaped for Chloe. The blonde stayed standing as the dark-skinned woman came closer and, with a very solid punch, Chloe sent her flying backward. With a snarl, Chloe jumped on the Jackal and began pounding on her.

"I've spent months," Chloe growled as she continued whacking the Jackal around the hut. "**_Two months_** trying to make the Mai and the humans see reason with each other. Now, I have to try and get the Mai Prides to see eye to eye and the Jackals pull this stunt. Honestly, I just want to sit back and relax with my mom and maybe watch a movie. You know, have a movie night, just the two of us. Hell, I wouldn't even mind if we invited Jasmine and Amy over as long as there was nothing I had to do at that exact moment. I could just enjoy my life.

"But no, there is **always** something I have to do, **always** somewhere I have to go, **always** someone I have to talk to. I just want it to stop. For one simple minute, just make it **_stop_**!" The last word was screamed in anger as Chloe finally knocked the Jackal unconscious with a very hard blow to the jaw.

Chloe stood over her, panting before turning to her family. Jasmine and Aniche shifted uncertainly while Meredith gazed at Chloe sadly. "I just want it to stop." Chloe murmured, tears brimming her eyes.

On impulse, Jasmine and Meredith both rushed forward and enveloped her in a hug. "We know, Chloe." Jasmine whispered softly, rubbing her back. "We know."

As Chloe cried in their arms, Aniche took out a knife and approached the Jackal that was on the ground, standing guard just in case she woke before Chloe's vulnerable moment was finished. After a few moments, Chloe's tears subsided and she gave a small sniff before turning back to the Anina, who had begun to stir. The Jackal looked up at Aniche, who was poised over her ready to strike and she gave a slight laugh.

Looking up at Aniche, she stood and said," It is against clan rules to murder one's kinsmen."

Aniche hissed at her and growled, "You are not part of this clan."

Anina only laughed again and replied, "Yes, but you wouldn't kill your own sister, would you?"

* * *

**_Yeah, that last line is kind of a play on the end of the series when Zane is standing in front of Alek and Alek goes, "I'll kill you." And Zane smirks and replies, "You wouldn't kill your own brother, would you?" So yeah, send me a review telling me what you think!_**


	7. Chapter 7

**SEVEN**

All present stared at Anina and Aniche as Aniche growled at Anina in recognition. "I should have seen it." Aniche hissed. "You look just like-."

"Don't say it!" Anina growled lowly.

"A bit nervous of her spirit coming to haunt you, Anina?" Aniche smirked at her sister.

"I have no need for such petty worries, sister." Anina replied.

"Then you wouldn't mind me saying-."

"Don't say it!" Anina snarled.

Aniche simply smirked at her and whispered, "Mother."

"I **told** you **not** to say it!" Anina roared, charging Aniche and sending the two of them tumbling, scratching and clawing at each other angrily. Aniche gained the upper hand and began clawing at Anina's face, leaving vicious gashes on her sister's cheeks. At last, in her anger, Aniche raised her hand and prepared to give her sister a deathblow.

"Wait!" Chloe shouted, stopping the fight between the two. Slowly walking over, the blonde knelt down next to Anina and asked, "We need you to answer some questions."

Anina glared at her and spat in her face. Chloe took a step back and wiped her face as Jasmine started forward. Before anyone could move, Chloe had moved Aniche out of harm's way and grabbed Anina by her throat, pressing her into the wall of the hut and snarling in her face.

"I am so **sick** and _disgusted_ with people doing that to me. If it wasn't for the fact that I needed answers from you, I'd rip your head off, and kinship be **_damned_**!"

Jasmine froze, as did Meredith. Neither had realized how much being spit on had gotten to Chloe, but Jasmine had a sneaking suspicion that it was something different than that. For now, all eyes were trained on Chloe. "I just want to ask you some questions, and the more you talk the longer you stay alive. Understand?" Anina nodded frantically, unnerved by the fire in Chloe's eyes. "Good. Now, to begin with, why are you attacking this village?"

"Because I was banned a long time ago. I had been caught stealing food from other huts and farms in order to feed my family. We were kicked out and had to move to my Mother land."

Chloe nodded. "Who is behind this sudden Jackal and Mai war?"

Anina fidgeted slightly, unsure of what to say. Chloe's eyes bore into hers and Anina felt as if she were drowning in a sea of ice. "I-it is the Order leader from San F-Francisco. He told me that I may be able to become leader of my tribe if I can destroy this one."

Chloe's hands went slack and Anina slid to the ground. Chloe stared at the space she had been but didn't seem to really be seeing it. "I was right." Chloe choked out, turning to Jasmine and the others. "I was right. I have to fight Whitley." Tears welled in Chloe's eyes. "I have to fight Brian's dad."

* * *

The four Mai exited the Mai with Anina between them. Chloe nodded to the Jackal and she reluctantly shouted to her pack mates, "Stop this, my siblings. Let the Mai and humans go free and bow to your soon-to-be leader."

Anina knelt in front of Chloe as the blonde held out a dagger to slit her throat. Chloe held the dagger ready and closed her eyes, trying not to envision what she was going to have to do. But images flooded her mind and her eyes shot open with a gasp. Throwing the dagger into the ground, Chloe turned away from the Jackal on the ground, hugging herself.

"I can't do it!" she cried. Jasmine moved to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder, making Chloe glance up at her. "I can't take the life of someone who's defenseless! It's not right."

Jasmine nodded and made to turn Chloe away so they could walk away from the kneeling Jackal. However, a growl from behind them made Jasmine pass a knife to Chloe as the blonde turned and face the dagger-armed Jackal. Anina snarled as the two weapons clashed and Chloe smirked at her.

"I was hoping you would do that."

With that, Chloe charged Anina and the two locked into a vicious knife-fight, swinging at each other while dodging at the same time. Anina, however, forgot one thing: Chloe was still angry with her for the spitting incident earlier, which fueled the blonde's determination. As Anina was moving to stab Chloe in the stomach, Chloe's arm made a wide horizontal arc and everything went silent. Anina's head slowly rolled off her shoulders as her body fell forward with the force of its momentum. Then Chloe held her head as she felt the Nigerian Jackals' minds rush into hers.

"That's three packs in only a few hours." Jasmine commented with a smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you enjoyed killing Jackals."

Chloe felt guilt rush through her as well as an overwhelming wave of sadness as she looked again at the body of yet another foe she had defeated. "I try hard not to, but that never seems to matter." She whimpered, sighing as she moved away from the body a bit in disgust. "Though she did have it coming for spitting in my face." Meredith and the others laughed at this and Chloe turned to her new pack.

"Help the Mai get their injuries checked and get your own checked as well. Begin rebuilding the huts; with the combined strength of both Jackals and Mai it shouldn't take too long. I have a very important trip to make to San Francisco. Can you get along until I call?" The Jackals glanced at the Mai and reluctantly nodded. Chloe's eyes roamed the crowd for a moment before landing on a subtly muscular Mai with a long braid in his hair and a small scar across one cheek.

"What's your name?" she asked him softly.

"Ichemefuna." The warrior replied with a bow of his head.

"Ichemefuna, could you help Aniche with her wounds and protect her just in case trouble starts again?" The young warrior nodded and moved to take Aniche in his arms. Chloe noticed the older woman getting a bit pale from her wounds and wondered about the small battle she had had with her sister.

Shaking it off, the blonde turned to her family and friends. "We have to go back to San Francisco as soon as possible because there's no telling what Whitley will do next."

They all nodded in agreement and headed for the jet. As Chloe took her seat next to Jasmine, she glanced over to see the tan girl staring at her with intense eyes. Chloe looked into the brown eyes that had captured her heart and felt herself get drawn to Jasmine once more.

The two didn't realize they were leaning in until they were a breath away and their eyes were closing. Chloe was just thinking of how good it would feel to have those lips against hers again and reality crashed into her. She pulled back with a small gasp and ducked her head to cover her blush. Jasmine pulled back and glanced at Chloe with concerned eyes. Chloe looked into them and saw the underlying hurt that Jasmine was resisting the urge to express and touched Jasmine's cheek.

"Now isn't the time, Jasmine." She told her friend softly. "I have a fight to prepare for and you need to be at your best, not distracted."

Jasmine gazed into the deep blue eyes opposite her and nodded in understanding. Chloe released her cheek and took a deep breath. _I'll get this figured out._ The blonde thought to herself. _But until then, I have to focus on the problem at hand. No matter how much I loved Brian, his dad has got to go and if that means sending him to his son, then so be it._ With a determined nod, Chloe tried to relax as much as possible into the seat until they arrived back home.

* * *

**Battle scene coming up. It's probably not going to be much since Chloe's fought just about everything except a human, so I'll try to make it as action filled as possible, using everything I learned about Whitley from the show and anything my imaginative little mind can come up with. In the meantime, someone send me a review. Anyone tell me what you think of it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Ok, so I guess not much of a battle scene coming yet. But it will get here, I'm just using suspense to make things better. Try this on for size instead. You might be surprised._**

* * *

**_EIGHT_**

Chloe looked around San Francisco and sighed in relief that there weren't Jackals rampaging the place, but that was just as bad because Whitley could be planning his next move at that very moment. Moving as normally through the streets as they all could, the group followed Felina through the streets in the direction of the Order building. The Nigerian and Hong Kong warriors were running on the rooftops accompanied by some of the Jackals from Chloe's first Pack.

Below on the sidewalk, Meredith stayed close to Valentina in case of danger, Amy stayed close to Paul out of fear, Safire and Raton stayed on apt alert to watch out for danger, Dimitri helped Felina with the trail and Jasmine kept a close watch on Chloe in case her blonde friend needed aide. When they reached the Order building that Felina had been kept in, they found an empty building devoid of life and already going to ruin.

"They're gone!" Felina hissed angrily.

"Maybe they left a scent trail?" Jasmine suggested.

Felina nodded and turned to Chloe. "You'd probably be able to recognize their scent as well as me and I'm positive that they went back to get Brian's body. Do you remember where that was?"

Chloe nodded and led everyone back through the streets of San Francisco until they finally arrived at the last place Chloe had seen Brian. The trolley station was completely deserted, which was to be expected. Using their senses, Chloe, Jasmine and Felina checked the place for any signs of where the Order people might have gone.

"I've got some faint scent over here!" Felina called, waving the others over.

Chloe stopped when she realized where Felina was standing and her eyes constricted for a moment in fear. "That was the place where the redhead shot me." She murmured softly.

"Simone shot you?" Felina snarled. "I knew I should have killed her when I had the chance. Now that I can recognize the scent, I think there's a place they might have gone. Come on."

Amy and Paul sighed as they realized that they would be walking again. Felina marched furiously through the streets until she stopped at a small green door in the side of a warehouse near the Golden Gate bridge. Typing in a bypass code, Felina smiled wryly when it opened.

"What? Did he think I forgot?" she chuckled, checking to make sure the coast was clear. "Come on and stay behind me." Everyone cluttered behind her and they began descending a staircase. Very carefully, Felina monitored their progress and came to an abrupt halt.

"When I tell you to duck, stay down until I tell you it's safe to lift your head." They all nodded and Felina took a step forward. There was a creaking sound and Felina instantly hissed, "Duck!"

As one, everyone bent low as something sharp made a _shing_ sound through the air where all their heads had been. They stayed down for a few more seconds before the weapon came to rest right above Jasmine's throat. "Now, slowly move forward but stay low."

Everyone continued forward, their bodies bent at near ninety degree angles as they followed Felina further. Once again, Felina came to an abrupt halt and said, "It's safe to lift up."

There was a collective sigh of relief at being able to lift up and more than a few people in the group cracked their necks back into place. "Let's proceed slower, there's a trap around here but even I can't tell where it is exactly. Be wary of anything coming out of the wall."

They had only gone another three or four paces before there was another creak and something opened up in the wall beside Meredith. One of the Nigerian warriors hurried forward and moved Meredith out of the way as a spray of some clear liquid was directed at him. He fell to the ground writhing with his teeth clenched as his skin and clothes began burning away. He did his best to stay quiet for everyone else's sake, but the pain got the better of him and he opened his mouth to scream; as he did so, Felina took out a knife and neatly severed the connection to his brain, cutting off his cry as it began.

"Why did you do that?" Jasmine demanded in a shocked whisper.

"Look at his body." Felina ordered, gesturing to the warrior she had just decapitated; all eyes found him and there were several gasps at the half dissolved body they all found. "He would have blown our cover and that acid is highly effective because it's fast acting. We couldn't risk that. We have to keep moving."

Chloe kept her mother close to her after that and she could see Jasmine doing the same with Valentina. Felina led them further into the tunnels and began slowing down after about twenty minutes. When she stopped in a long, seemingly harmless chamber she let out a shaky breath and turned to Chloe.

"Stay here, all of you. No matter what you see, don't come out to try and stop it. This is the hardest part and I barely survived my first time. Stay here until you see that the way is clear, then run as fast as you can to the other end. Understood?"

They all looked at her with wide eyes, but nodded all the same. Felina took a deep breath and stepped into the chamber. All of a sudden, valves opened all over the walls and knives and arrows began flying out of everyone of them along with a cannon every now and then. Felina dodged as best she could, but one of the arrows caught her in the side. The cat woman swallowed her scream of pain and continued through the room, still avoiding the weaponry as best she could. A knife embedded itself underneath her ribs and another arrow grazed the front of her chest.

Chloe's instincts were telling her to go out and help Felina, but she knew that losing another one of her lives wouldn't do anyone any good. Dimitri, on the other hand, had no trouble in wanting to go out and rescue Felina, so one of the Nigerian warriors held him firm as they all watched Felina continue getting hit with arrows and knives. At last, when it seemed she was nearly to the end of the chamber, a cannon ball flew at her and smashed through her chest. Chloe's eyes widened in shock and she took a step into the chamber as well. Had Jasmine not seen what she was about to do and pulled her back, an arrow would have embedded itself firmly in her chest.

Chloe buried her face into Jasmine's chest for a moment before looking back out to see that the arrows and knives had stopped flying. The group immediately began running through the chamber and when they reached the other side, Chloe braved going back out with Dimitri and collecting Felina's body. They were just reaching her, when her chest began regenerating. Working quickly, the two other Mai removed the various weaponry from the cat woman's body as she began to wake up. Felina's eyes opened and she looked up at them with a weak smile as she sat up.

"Thanks." She murmured. "We should get going."

Chloe nodded and helped her cousin stand, putting one arm around her shoulder to help her walk. Dimitri did the same with the other arm and they began moving forward. "That should have been the last one unless they've set a new one I don't know about." Felina pointed out.

Chloe groaned softly. "You just had to say that." She sighed, awaiting the next trap that was bound to come. Sure enough, just as they were reaching the door that led out of the chamber, valves opened on either side of the antechamber and liquid slid across the floor toward them. Felina sniffed the air and found that it was more of the acid.

"We're going to have to use our clothes to get over it. Does everyone have a jacket?"

All heads nodded and Felina nodded in approval, taking off her trench coat. Removing her various weapons from the inside pockets and slipping them into the pockets of her pants, Felina laid her trench coat over the ground and held her hand out for the next coat or jacket. Jasmine gave her hers and Felina laid it out a foot away from her trench coat. She jumped to the jacket and Chloe jumped to the trench coat with Jasmine, handing Felina her coat. The procession went slowly as they all jumped across to the exit.

Finally, they were halfway there when they ran out of jackets. Felina sighed and turned to go back when one of the Nigerian warriors took off his upper tunic and handed it up the line. Chloe gave it to Felina and the cat woman smiled as the remaining two warriors passed up their own tunics as well. Felina laid them out and they nearly reached the door. Felina made sure her boots were secured to her feet before she took a breath and walked across the acid to the door, opening it slowly before motioning for the others to jump across.

Once everyone was in, Felina closed the door behind them and began leading them through the plush hallways. There were doors on all sides, but Felina seemed fixated on the one at the end, which was slightly ajar. Slowly nearing the door, Felina, Chloe and Jasmine put their ears to it while the others stood guard. Listening intently, Chloe felt dread tighten in her stomach.

* * *

Whitley paced back and forth, a worried frown on his face. _What if she talks her way through the Jackals as well? He wondered to himself. I can't have her spoiling this plan. It should have been done long ago. The Jackals will destroy the Mai and then the Order can hunt down those who are descendants of Anubis rather than Bastet, The cat-goddess always had more descendants for some reason._

Whitley glanced at the clock and nodded to himself._ The meeting will be starting soon, I had better get to the conference room. _

Walking through the hallways, Whitley heard the locks on the door above click and raised an eyebrow at the ceiling. He had a gut feeling that something strange was going to happen soon and hurried to the conference room. Everyone was there so that the meeting could commence as soon as Whitley had arrived.

Whitley stood where the head seat and glanced at Simone, to his right. She nodded and Whitley cleared his throat. "As you all know, we have been moved to this location because the Uniter may have found out from the Jackals that we were behind the sudden war eruption between Jackals and Mai. It is our duty to make sure that-."

There was a sudden creak above, alerting everyone that one of the traps had been triggered. When no other sounds reached their ears, Whitley dismissed it as the person being dead. He continued. "It is our duty to make sure that this war continues long enough for the Jackals to obliterate the Mai Prides. Then, we can change our new focus to hunting down the Jackals. Any questions?"

A blonde woman with deep brown eyes raised her hand up. "Yes, Cassandra?" Whitley nodded.

"How do you plan to hunt down the Jackals?" the woman, Cassandra, asked. "There are less of them than Mai and they are less prominent."

"My dear," Whitley said with a sly smile. "I don't know many Jackals that like to take baths. The only ones I know of are in Ukraine and that's the main reason they are attacking the Mai over there."

Cassandra nodded as a gray-haired man with a scar on his right cheek asked, "And what of the Mai in the other countries? Surely not **all** of the Jackals are against the Mai?"

Everyone's eyes found the ceiling when a thud was heard. It seemed someone was moving about on the floor above or a few floors above and Whitley's mouth grew dry for a moment. When the movements ceased, he turned back to the man and a slight smile tugged at his lips.

"Roger, my dear man, Jackals and Mai are two different species, like cats and dogs. They're destined to fight each other just from that little comparison. There will be Jackals that may be against this whole ordeal, but the majority don't like the Mai."

Roger nodded and a man with dyed green hair and sharp brown eyes raised his hand. Just as Whitley gave him the ok to speak, there were the sounds of creaking above as well as the sounds of numerous weapons flying through the air. Whitley's eyes narrowed at this as the weapons continued flying.

When the only sound was a few footsteps (Mai have soft footsteps, almost soundless like real cats), Whitley turned back to the man and nodded to him, "Go on Zachary."

"Why do we do all this anyway?" the young man, barely into his twenties asked. "Why do we hunt the demigods? It's not like they've done anything to us in the last hundred years. Why go through all the trouble instead of making this company into something useful." Whitley's eyes narrowed angrily at this inferior boy that thought he could make a point while they were hiding to avoid danger.

"You are joking, right?" Whitley hissed, leaning forward on the table, his gut feeling getting worse. "The demigods are not normal! They should not even **exist**! The gods were meant to stay in heaven and the humans were meant to stay down on earth. The Gods were _not_ supposed to come traipsing down here like they own the place and just make children! It is against nature. Mai, Jackals, Slitherers, Gillers, they're all abominations that shouldn't coexist among humans. And in order to completely rid the world of them, we need to get rid of their savior, their leader. The blonde, blue-eyed, courageous girl that killed my son. The girl that they consider as high as their Goddess. The Uniter."

Suddenly, Whitley's well-trained ears caught breathing on the other side of the door and a sly smile crept back onto his face. "It seems…" he said, backing toward the door slowly. "…that we won't have to go looking for our prey after all."

Everyone stared at him in confusion and Roger asked, "What are you talking about, Whitley, old boy?"

Without a word, Whitley rounded on his heel and flung the door open. "It seems…" he said, a malicious smile curling his features as three different bodies spilled onto the floor before him. "…that our prey came to us."

* * *

**Well, on the upside, the plot thickens. On the downside, *pout * no battle scene for you guys. I'm planning it now, just gimme a bit of time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**_You asked for it. You were patient enough to wait for it. You were kind enough to scream at my writer's block for me. Now, you get the courtesy of seeing chapter nine. Take it, tell your friends about it, email it to your mother, just make sure you review it too. ;)_**

* * *

**_NINE_**

Chloe stared up into dark threatening eyes and made to stand, but a foot on her back kept her down. She heard Felina growl and turned to see her cousin being restrained by two or three other people. Turning to the other side, Chloe found that Jasmine was under the same circumstances.

"Chloe!" Chloe turned to find her mother running toward her.

"Mom, don't-!" Too late to hear Chloe's warning, Meredith went barreling into Whitley. As they tumbled away, Chloe jumped to her feet and helped Jasmine free herself from her captors. The rest of the group came rushing in as well and the warriors stood on defense.

Chloe turned to her mother as Felina shrugged free of her captors and turned to her former boss as well. The entire group gasped when they saw Whitley holding a knife to Meredith's throat. A line of blood was already forming where the knife's serrated edge met the soft skin. Chloe took a shaky step forward and Whitley pushed the knife a bit harder, garnering a slightly pained cry from the brunette he was holding.

"Please, stop." Chloe pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Why should I do that, Uniter?" Whitley demanded, cocking his head to the side slightly.

"B-because she's human… and she's my mom." Chloe murmured, her voice harsh and barely audible. The pain in her mother's eyes was driving her crazy; she just wanted her safe and unhurt.

"That's not a good enough reason." Whitley responded with a cruel smile and a twitching of his hand that made Meredith whimper.

Chloe's breathing was becoming heavy as she assessed her options and found that the chances of her getting out of this alive were slim. "I-I'll give you… I'll give you…"

At that moment, Felina stepped forward and held her hands up. "She'll give you me in return for her mother."

"**_WHAT_**?" Chloe exclaimed.

Felina's eyes flashed to her before she knelt on the ground before Whitley and held her hands behind her. Whitley surveyed her for a moment, taking in the absolute hatred in her gaze as she glared up at her and the resignation in her gaze. With a sigh, he released Meredith and pushed her forward; she stumbled and Chloe's arms automatically shot out to catch her. Chloe held her close for a moment before moving back and turning to Felina.

"I can't let you do this." She murmured to the older girl.

"You don't really have a choice." Felina sighed, slowly standing and reaching out for Chloe. Whitley cleared his throat as a warning, but both girls ignored it and Chloe jumped into Felina's arms, a few tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Thanks, Felina," Chloe sighed. "For everything."

Felina chuckled and whispered into Chloe's ear, so that only she could hear, "Oh Prima, you will never learn, will you?"

As Chloe was trying to decipher what she meant, Felina let go and quickly spun around succeeding in stabbing Whitley in the shoulder. He cried out in both surprise and fury as Felina snarled at him, her eyes mocking him.

"You'll pay for that." Whitley growled lowly as he rolled up his sleeve. Pressing a button, everyone present cried out in shock as the building began shaking.

"You won't be able to escape in time." The only remaining Order leader sneered at them. "This building will collapse and the only way to stop it is to push the trigger."

Felina made a lunge for the man's wrist, but he twisted out of the way and she slid along the floor as the other conference people in the room quickly stood as Whitley pressed the other button on his wristband. A siren went off and there was the sound of footsteps. Before anyone could move, guards were surrounding them on all sides.

"Kill them all." Whitley ordered as he and the other council members escaped through a door at the other end of the room.

The door they disappeared behind shut just as the underground building gave another violent shake, pitching everyone off their feet. The guards that were supposed to be killing them slammed into the wall and were all knocked unconscious or wounded while the Mai caught any of the humans they could. Meredith and Valentina narrowly avoided colliding with the ceiling while Amy and Paul were caught just before sliding down he hallway.

"We have to get out of here!" Chloe shouted to them all as bits of the wall and ceiling began raining down upon them.

"Wait!"

The cry made Chloe turn back and she saw one of the guards gazing at her pleadingly. Glancing back at her retreating family, Chloe took a deep breath and nodded to the man. Moving forward, she helped him to his feet and put his arm around her shoulder, helping him walk and trying not to put much weight on his obviously broken ankle. Another guard grabbed her shirt and Chloe helped her up as well, being careful to avoid touching the broken arm.

"Can you walk?" the Uniter asked softly. The woman nodded and the three of them began heading for the doorway.

"Chloe?" Jasmine and Felina appeared in the doorway and their eyes widened at the sight of Chloe helping the two guards.

"They're hurt." Chloe told them. Her friends nodded and took the man with the broken leg as Chloe continued helping the woman nurse her broken arm.

"There's only one other exit that isn't guarded." Felina called to everyone. "Follow me!"

Everyone quickly made their way after Felina and Jasmine as they headed away from the entrance and further into the lair. Just as they were coming to the end of a corridor, Felina gasped. "It's covered!" she shouted to the three Nigerian warriors.

They nodded and began working at the pile of cement and stone, Dimitri moving forward to help while the Hong Kong warriors kept watch for anymore oncoming danger. After a moment, the Jackals joined in too and the exit was clear enough that they could get through. As they hastily climbed out, Chloe and the woman being the last left, The building began crumbling faster, larger pieces raining down upon the two women.

Chloe ushered the woman first, but the guard shook her head. "You go, your life is more important than mine."

Chloe nodded slowly and climbed through the exit. The guard was about to follow when she looked up to see a rockslide heading for her. She closed her eyes, awaiting the boulders that would crush her. Just as they were about to crash on top of her, the guard felt something pull her upward and opened her eyes to see that Chloe had returned to help her. The blonde practically carried her out of the ruined warehouse.

As Chloe was setting her down, the woman gazed up at her in wonder. "Why?" she asked softly.

"Because," Chloe replied, getting to work tearing the woman's shirt sleeve away from her arm. "No life is more important than another. There's no reason you should've almost died."

The guard looked over at her companion to see another Mai taking care of him as well. "Thank you." She said at last as Chloe began making a makeshift cast from the ripped clothing and some of the plaster from the ruined building.

"You're welcome." Chloe replied softly, tying off the last bit of cloth and cutting it with her teeth. "Can you stand?"

The woman nodded and extended her uninjured hand. "My name is Veronica Winters." She said. "And I do believe I owe you my life, Miss…"

"Chloe." Chloe replied, taking the hand and shaking it.

The man came hobbling over with Paul's help and extended his hand as well, shaking Chloe's. "Laurent, Miss Chloe. Laurent Witherspoon, and I believe I am indebted to you as well."

Chloe's eyes widened as she looked between the two in shock. "No, that's ok. You really don't have to-."

"Nonsense." Veronica said sternly. "Had it not been for you, we would have perished along with our comrades. We thought all Mai were bad, but I'm starting to think that we were employed by the wrong side." Laurent nodded and they both dipped their hats to Chloe. The blonde sighed in defeat and nodded.

"Where do you think he might have gone?" Chloe asked, turning back to the others.

Everyone shook their heads and Chloe rubbed her nose before pulling out her cell phone. Quickly putting it on speaker, she died the other Prides again as well as the former Order leaders. Everyone picked up after a moment and Chloe had to get used to the fact that Jacque was dead. Pushing that thought aside, Chloe began speaking softly; she may have saved them, but the guards could have mini microphones and speakers on them. Moving off to the side with Felina, Jasmine, Meredith, Valentina, Safire, Raton and Dimitri.

"Everyone, we're going to need a place to meet that will make it hard for the remaining Order members to find us and attack. Any ideas?"

"We could use the rundown building south of the Harlem Mai Tribe building." Josef suggested.

"I don't think so." Felina said slowly. "All of the Mai Pride leaders in one building? Perfect way to bomb them out of existence."

"Point clear." Josef said quickly.

"Maybe the Savannah plains?" Aniche offered. "They will make it hard to bomb us."

"But they'll make it easy to shoot us at long range." Jasmine pointed out. "They could use snipers to get rid of us and we wouldn't know what had happened until everyone was dead."

"There has to be SOMEWHERE the Order can't get us." Chloe groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose slowly.

"How about Manaus?" Francesca volunteered. "The town is big enough that we can hide, but secluded enough that it will make it hard for them to find us."

Chloe nodded at the suggestion as the possibility went through her head. "Alright. We'll be by to pick everyone up soon. Be ready to fly and we'll land in Manaus. We'll need to be quick, there's not much time to lose. Oh! And do me a favor? Alert the other leaders of the Jackal Packs. They should be included since this has to do with them as well."

"Will do, your majesty!" They all chorused together before hanging up.

Chloe stared at her phone in stunned silence as the dial tone sounded. Jasmine waved a hand in front of her face and snapped in front of her eyes. "They… they called me… they agreed..." Chloe couldn't seem to form a proper sentence, so great was her shock that she felt like a colossal rock of gargantuan proportion had slammed into her.

Jasmine chuckled and put an arm around Chloe's shoulders. "They've all seen you in action, Chloe." She explained. "There must be no doubt in their minds that you will make an excellent ruler once everything is taken care of."

Chloe gazed up at her in wonder for a moment before shaking her head and setting her jaw. "Come on, guys; we have to go pick up the leaders and then we need to head back to Manaus."

Everyone nodded and the large group of people hurried for the jet. The two guards stood on either side of Chloe to make sure no danger came, but Felina kept a watchful eye on them just in case. She, like Chloe, didn't quite trust them and she knew the technique they were using. By flanking Chloe, they were cutting her off from immediate danger, but also from immediate assistance.

So, despite their efforts to completely cover Chloe, Felina stayed close by and took the seat on the right of Chloe once they were in the jet. Jasmine slid into the seat to the left of her friend and this forced Laurent and Veronica to go to the seats behind them. Jasmine squeezed Chloe's hand comfortingly and the blonde smiled softly at her before staring at the back of the seat in front of her, deep in thought. Jasmine left Chloe to her thoughts, knowing the other girl had a lot to think about and wonder over. Leaning, back, she opted to try and get some sleep before this super big meeting that they were obviously about to have.

* * *

**More recruits into the force. A lot of people are owing Chloe. *shakes head* Will they never learn? Review and tell me what you think of this new development on things. Next chapter up in a bit.**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Chapter ten, y'all. Chloe's gathering the others!_**

* * *

**_TEN_**

Felina snarled at the two guards that were, once again, flanking Chloe. It was like they were intentionally trying to keep Jasmine and her from protecting Chloe.

_No matter, _the cat woman thought._ Because they won't be able to guard her for long with so many Mai about to come into view. But first, we need to make it through these rounds. _As they walked through the streets of New York, Felina looked around for the Jackals or the Mai, but all she could find were humans.

At last, the smell of dog hit her nose at the same minute that Chloe shouted, "Laurence!"

She rushed forward to catch up with the Jackal that had been walking away from them. He stopped and waited for her to catch up and Jasmine and Felina took this as an opportunity to reclaim their spots beside Chloe, so they sped after their friend as well, sliding into place beside her seconds later. Veronica and Laurent came up moments later, huffinf and panting heavily. Laurence looked at them for a second before shooting a questioning glance at Chloe.

"I saved their lives so they decided to come along to help out." Chloe explained. "Is Josef ready to go?"

"Yeah, I was actually just about to go get him to wait for your arrival. Come on." Laurence led them to a different building than the one the Mai had been hiding in; this one was somewhat larger than the other building and less rundown. Laurence knocked on the door and Gregory opened it slowly. He smiled when he caught sight of Chloe and welcomed them in.

"Good to see you again, Chloe." He greeted her warmly. "Josef should be down-."

"-within seconds." A voice said from the staircase.

Everyone turned to see Josef making his way down the stairs with an overnight bag in his hands. "Ready to go." He said with a smile, setting down the bag and extending his hand to Chloe. "Good to see you back, your Majesty." He told her. Chloe smiled at him and gestured to the bag. "It has all our stuff in it. We didn't know how long we would be there."

Chloe nodded. "Let's go, we have six more countries to hit."

The three men followed Chloe and her group accompanied by five Mai and three Jackals. Veronica and Laurent looked around at them nervously for a moment before moving closer to Chloe. Felina and Jasmine shot them looks before glancing at each other. Everyone boarded the jet and set off for Spain. Chloe called together her pack as Alfred and three other Mai came forward with some of their belongings. Chloe took with her a few Jackals from her own Pack and everyone was on the jet within minutes. Chloe watched the window for awhile before returning her gaze to the seat in front of her. Landing in France, Chloe called together all of the French Jackals as Sébastien and some of the Mai came forward.

"Let's go, your highness." they all murmured, bowing their heads to her as they entered the jet.

Chloe chose a few of her French Jackals to come with them and everyone entered the jet. An argument immediately broke out between the French and the Spanish Jackals while some of the New York Jackals snarled at both Packs. Chloe looked around at them and noticed that some of them were already beginning to throw punches.

Taking a deep breath, Chloe blew a whistle and everyone stopped, turning to her. "I don't want **_any_** fighting unless we are battling the Order." Chloe said firmly, staring at all of the Jackals and leveling stares at the Mai as well, who had begun hissing at each other. "We are not animals no matter who we are descended from. We need to keep it together and get rid of the Order so that we can live safely from now on. We can't have a working operation if you're all fighting. Sit down and stay quiet unless you are discussing battle strategies that could help us against Whitley and his people."

Everyone stared at her in shock for a moment before one by one they all bowed and sat down in their seats. Chloe huffed and sat down between Felina and Jasmine. Felina chuckled and muttered, "Told you your name was wrong."

Chloe shot her a smile and relaxed back into her seat, going into deep thought again. She only came out of her trance when Jasmine tapped her shoulder to tell her that they had made it to Ukraine. As they left the jet, they saw all of the Jackals looking at them oddly and Chloe could only guess at what they were staring at. At last, they arrived at the headquarters and found Orlando, Nikolas, and a tall, dark-haired, muscular Jackal waiting for them.

The Jackal stepped forward and extended his hand to Chloe with a gracious smile. "You must be the Uniter and Queen."

Chloe smiled and shook his hand, replying, "Yeah, that's me. I'm Chloe."

"Pleasure Chloe. I'm Dominic. What's this I hear about a meeting?"

"We're deciding a plan of action against the Order."

Dominic nodded and glanced at the two former guards that were now surrounded by Mai and Jackals to make sure they didn't hear too much. "Who are they?" he asked, turning his gaze back to Chloe.

"They're two guards that I saved from dying at the hands of the Order." Dominic nodded and gestured to the small pile of bags beside him. "We're packed and ready to go then, Your Highness."

Chloe nodded as a handful of Mai carried the bags to the jet. Boarding, Chloe let out a sigh of relief when the Ukraine Jackals made no quarrels with the others. "Russia's going to be a hard time." she murmured to Jasmine.

"I believe it." Jasmine sighed heavily.

"Let's just hope Nikolai is understanding enough to get what we're talking about."

"Well, she was better than the Russian Order so it shouldn't be too hard to convince her to join us." Felina pointed out. Chloe nodded and sighed, deciding to sleep until they got to the Russian city again.

* * *

"So what you're telling me is that you want to get rid of this Order guy altogether?" Chloe nodded as Nikolai stood from her desk and came around to the front of it. "Well, I'll come as long as you have a logical reason for wanting those humans dead."

Chloe sighed in relief and turned to Anton. "I am already one hundred percent behind you, Chloe. You are intelligent enough to know what you are doing and I trust that."

Chloe smiled at him and ducked her head at the praise. "Let's go, we need to pick up Hei-Ting, Sheng-Hei, An-Mei, Aniche and some of the Nigerian Jackals."

"You killed their Alpha didn't you?" Nikolai smirked.

"She provoked me and attacked me first anyway."

Felina and Jasmine chuckled as Nikolai's smirk grew. She and Anton gathered two small backpacks from the corner of the room and followed Chloe out to where many of the Mai were waiting. Five or six stepped forward and bowed to Chloe.

"We would like to accompany her majesty on her quest to assure her safety." The tallest one said. Chloe nodded and led everyone back to the jet with Jasmine and Felina flanking her. "It's like having your own royal guard and advisors." Felina observed. Chloe giggled at that and sat in her normal seat as everyone found places to sit or lean. Chloe glanced around and found that Laurence, Dominic and Nikolai were gazing at her intently.

_What's wrong?_ Chloe asked them telepathically.

_Aren't you hearing the orders in your head?_ Nikolai asked.

Chloe raised an eyebrow questioningly. _What orders?_

_The orders our main Alpha—the one you call Whitley—is sending us, telling us to finish destroying the Mai Prides and come to San Francisco._ Laurence explained.

_No, I don't hear anything but my own thoughts and you guys. _

_How strange indeed._ Dominic mused. _What do you think could be keeping him from ordering you? _

Chloe shook her head._ I don't know, but I'll think on it for a bit. _

All three of them nodded and Chloe went back to staring at the back of the seat in front of her. _He can't hide forever and that's definitely not his plan. He might know by now that the Jackals haven't completely destroyed the Mai Prides and have no intention of doing so. But can he possibly be the leader of the Jackals? No. You can't have more than one Alpha. _

Chloe's eyes narrowed._ But you **can** have little subdivisions in which other Jackals step up and become Alphas of the Packs for him. Meaning he can tell what they're doing and give them orders. But then, why hasn't he given ME an order? _

Chloe mused on this some more before something struck her._ Because I'm the **true** Alpha of all the Packs. He can't give an order to me because I hold a higher position than he does. Whitley must not realize it though, which will only serve to help us. _

A slow smile made its way onto Chloe's lips as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms.

"What's up?" Jasmine asked, noticing the sudden change in Chloe's demeanor.

"Whitley doesn't have a lead on what we're doing because he can't reach my mind. I'm the Alpha of all the Packs and he obviously doesn't realize this because he's giving orders to Nikolai, Dominic and Laurence. I wonder if An-Mei is getting orders as well."

"We'll find out when we get there." Jasmine smiled down at her and Chloe nodded, leaning back in her seat to await the arrival in Hong Kong

* * *

A little over an hour later, the jet was landing in Hong Kong and Chloe was un-boarding to make sure everyone else was ready to go. An-Mei greeted her at the bottom of the stairs with a few of her Jackals while Hei-Ting and Sheng-Hei weren't far behind with some of their Mai and a few humans.

Chloe greeted them with a smile and asked, "All ready to go?"

"Indeed your Majesty." Sheng-Hei nodded.

"Let's go then." Chloe grinned, jumping back up the stairs and into the jet. Chloe looked around and noticed that the jet was getting a little overcrowded; people were sharing seats or packed against the walls and Chloe sighed.

"This is a lot of people." She murmured.

"More people means more protection for the Queen." Nikolas pointed out, to which Chloe nodded thoughtfully. Taking her seat, Chloe leaned into Jasmine as the jet took off again.

"Next stop," Chloe said.

"Nigeria." Jasmine finished.

* * *

"We are ready to go, Your Majesty." Chloe smiled up at Ichemefuna warmly as he carried a few bags over to her. "Aniche is getting the last bag and then we should be off."

"Thanks, Ichemefuna. I'll get some of the Jackals to come with us and you can put those in the storage compartment of the jet."

Ichemefuna nodded and began carrying the bags toward the jet where some of the French Mai and Spanish Jackals began helping him unload it into storage. Chloe smiled at the teamwork and turned to see Aniche striding forward with a small bag in her hands.

"All ready?" Chloe asked and Aniche nodded with a bow and a smile.

"We are going to Brazil, yes?" Chloe nodded. "I have brought an offering for Francesca in thanks for letting us use her territory."

Chloe beamed up at the older woman. "That was nice of you. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

Aniche nodded, her smile growing, and followed Chloe onto the jet. Now people were standing in the aisles as well and some were sitting on the floor. Chloe held her tongue on it and returned to her seat between Felina and Jasmine.

"Now we can finally fly to the last Pride and unload these people from this cramped jet." Chloe muttered so only they could hear.

Jasmine nodded, looking around at all of the others on the jet; none of them showed signs of being uncomfortable, but Jasmine knew they were only doing it so that Chloe wouldn't feel worse about the situation. Jasmine had to admire them for that; they really were willing to do anything for her. Within two hours they were flying over the Amazon Forest and Jasmine shivered at the thought of going through the Amazon River again, hoping she wouldn't have to re-experience that anytime soon.

At last, the jet touched down in Manaus and everyone stood. Chloe and Jasmine were the first ones off followed by the members of their original group and the other Pride, Pack and former Order leaders with everyone else coming behind. As soon as they were off the jet, everyone raced for the storage compartment to get their belongings. Chloe and Jasmine stared as everyone pushed and shoved to get their bags and Chloe sighed.

Whistling to get everyone's attention, Chloe, Jasmine and Felina strode over. "You're going to break or tear something if you keep doing it like that." Chloe told them wearily as she jumped into the storage compartment. "Gather round and we'll go about this in a calmer way." Chloe picked up a leather bag with rhinestones on the front. "Whose is this?" she asked loudly.

"Mine!" a French Mai called, raising her hand.

"Can you catch?" Chloe called. The Mai nodded and Chloe tossed the bag to her.

Jasmine, Valentina, Felina and Nikolai jumped up to help so that it went faster and soon, there were only a few items left. Chloe went to go get a large suitcase from on top of a few smaller ones, but her hand slipped and the suitcases all began to fall. Quickly jumping up, Chloe avoided being crushed, but her landing wasn't pain free. As she was landing, one of the suitcases made her fall uneven and she crashed to the ground. Jasmine and Valentina hurried over to help her up while Felina and Nikolai picked up the suitcases.

"Are you alright?" Jasmine asked, letting Chloe stand on her own.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The blonde shook her wrist and felt a twinge. "My wrist hurts a little. It should be fine though."

Jasmine nodded and went over to take a few of the smaller suitcases while Felina got the larger one and Nikolai and Valentina grabbed the rest. Chloe smiled at them in thanks as the last of the bags were distributed and they grabbed their own luggage.

Hopping out of the compartment, Felina shut the door and Chloe walked over to where Francesca was watching them. "So, where will we be able to stay?"

Francesca gave her a smile and bowed before motioning for them to follow her. "Come with me."

* * *

**_I know, an excessively long chapter (at least from my point of view) but you guys tell me what you think of this development. Chloe's beginning to act more like a ruler now. Not one of those snobby queens that books give you and not a sappy, too nice Disney© princess, but a concerned, authoritative leader. Next chapter coming soon. Review and tell me what you think of this one while I'm posting it._**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Thank you to mbj2323 for the self-esteem boost. Here's the last chapters of the story guys._**

* * *

**_ELEVEN_**

"Alright, so what's this big meeting about anyway?" Francesca asked, looking at a pacing Chloe.

"Well, hours ago, my group and I infiltrated the Order's secret hideout in an abandoned warehouse. We got past the traps, Felina losing another of her lives to help us."

Chloe nodded to the cat woman who had begun stripping herself of her clothes because of how hot it had become. "Then, when we found the room Whitley and his people were conversing in, we heard that once he had gotten the Jackals to finish off the main Mai Prides, he was going to hunt down the rest as well as all of the existing Jackals."

There were several growls from all present, Mai, Jackal and Human. Chloe raised her hand so she could finish speaking. "What we need to do is figure out a plan of action for everyone to take."

"We'll have to go back into hiding if he gets more people on his side." Josef and Alfred groaned together, but they were silenced by a growl from Chloe.

"I don't want to go into hiding. Everyone here, the Mai and Jackals and even some of the humans, all of us have spent too long hiding. I want to face this problem head-on. I may try to make a kind of peace treaty or something, but I'm sick of hiding, of running, of being afraid that I won't be good enough to protect all three species. I made a pact with a Pack of Jackals a little while back to stay off San Francisco land. I realize now that I don't want that. I want Jackals and Mai to be able to roam freely without feeling pressured not to go onto another species' territory. I want humans to be able to live without the fear of getting the deadly kiss. No hiding. Any other suggestions?"

Jasmine gazed at Chloe proudly, watching as her mate discussed political issues without much room for compromise. Chloe wasn't overbearing, but she wasn't a complete pushover either; she was willing to listen to everyone's opinion on what to do and she gave in ideas as well.

"I think we should do a peace treaty." Orlando and Nikolas were saying.

"We want to fight him down." Dominic growled as Nikolai and Laurence gave snarls of agreement.

"Treaty!" Alfred, Josef, Orlando, Nikolas, Anton and An-Mei protested.

"Fight!" Dominic, Laurence, Nikolai, Sheng-Hei, Hei-Ting, and Gregory countered. The twelve of them began growling in each others' faces until a massive snarl from Chloe made them back away in fear.

"If we are going to fight, it will NOT be over which option to do." Chloe took a breath. "Besides, there's no reason we can't do both. We can bring up the peace treaty and then, if Whitley still refuses, then we can fight him, holding nothing back. Humans, Mai, and Jackals would be pitted against each other because he has other species' working for him as well."

"What?" Dominic demanded, bristling.

"He's such a hypocrite!" Nikolai roared.

"I know. But would you be able to handle going against your own kind?" Chloe asked, her blue eyes showing concern.

"We would die to protect you, my Queen." Francesca said softly, gazing at Chloe intensely.

"That was the **_WRONG_** thing to say!" Valentina groaned as she saw the emotions play on Chloe's face.

"Too many have died already." Chloe murmured. "I can't let you all do that."

"But Chloe," Alfred protested. "We must do something to stop this man or he could succeed in creating a new branch of the order and continue wiping us out. All of your hard work for the past two months would go completely to waste and you would have to start all over."

Valentina raised an eyebrow at Alfred, but she understood his method as soon as she saw the look in his eyes. Chloe was beginning to show more signs of fatigue than even Paul and Amy; the blonde was nearly dead on her feet from irregular sleeping. If Chloe were to accept the deal of peace and/or fight, then she wouldn't have to work harder to make peace between the species. Just as Chloe was about to give her answer, the sounds of boots racing through forestry was heard and all of the Mai immediately went on defense around Chloe. Out of the bushes came thousands upon thousands of troops with giant red O's stitched into the stomachs of their uniforms. The troops surrounded them all and Whitley stepped out.

"Hello Chloe," he said pleasantly.

All present hissed at him. "Don't you speak her name, you piece of filth. Your mouth is too dirty to speak to her at all!" Nikolai snarled, trembling with rage.

"Watch your mouth little doggy. You may end up in a meat packing plant somewhere far away."

Now it was Chloe's turn to be trembling. She stepped out of the protective circle around her and approached Whitley. The others called out to her, but Chloe was consumed by her anger and before even Whitley himself could react, her pale hand gleamed in the sunlight and was quickly followed by a loud _smack!_ Whitley staggered away a bit as everyone stared at Chloe in utter shock.

"How dare you speak to her that way?" Chloe roared. "She's just as human as you are. So what if she's descended from a man with a dog's head? Who cares? You have no right to treat her that way just because of who she's descended from!"

Whitley glared up at Chloe and Felina saw a glint of silver in the sunlight. Quickly moving forward, she made to pull Chloe back, but instead, the blonde surged forward and aimed a well-placed kick at Whitley's stomach. The man staggered farther away and Chloe snarled at him.

Meredith turned to Valentina in wonder. "That sounded almost…"

"Animal." Valentina whispered.

With that, Chloe jumped forward and began hand-to-hand combat with Whitley. He blocked her blows, but she did the same with his and as one, the troops rushed forward to attack. The entire crowd jumped forward to attack. The French, Brazilians and Nigerians went completely on instinct while the fighters from Hong Kong, Ukraine and Russia used their training and those from Spain, New York, and San Francisco used a mixture of the two. The troops were falling fast, their guns being no use to those who could easily dodge the bullets that came their way.

Chloe, however, wasn't showing signs of winning her own fight. She was getting weaker, lack of rest making her movements sloppy and a bit wide. Whitley made a good punch to her jaw and the blonde went flying. Chloe jumped back to her feet and looked around for her foe. Spinning around, she found him right behind her and she quickly punched him in the gut before kneeing him in the face and kicking him backwards. Whitley staggered, holding his bloody nose for a moment before growling at her through the blood.

Chloe snarled in response and Whitley charged her. Chloe, not having a completely stable frame of mind at that moment, charged him back and the two collided like moose. Their heads smashed together and both just stood there, staring at each other. Everyone around had stopped to look at them, wondering who would fall first. Chloe held her ground, refusing to be the one to blackout, but Whitley had years of practice with head-butts, so they were evenly matched. At last, they both slowly shook their heads and went back to fighting, which was everyone else's cue to continue fighting as well.

Felina was taking the brunt of the battle because she was the most trained and the third most dangerous. Dimitri was right beside her, fighting with all the skill he possessed. Together, they made a very good match but they were quickly being overpowered by troops.

"Dimitri?" Felina asked as she dispatched yet another three or four troops with another set of knives.

"Yes, Felina?"

"I need you to promise me something."

"And what is that?" Dimitri grunted, kicking another man in the gut before accidentally crushing another's skull beneath his boots.

"That no matter what happens to me, you'll stay behind to protect my cousin."

"What?" Dimitri nearly lost focus. "But Felina-!"

"No Dimitri!" Felina snarled. "No arguments. I need you to protect Chloe. No matter what happens to me, you HAVE to protect Chloe. Please?"

Dimitri sighed. "If it is your wish, then yes. I promise I will stay behind and protect your cousin in your time of absence."

"Thank you so much."

Just then, Dimitri felt Felina's weight leave her and he turned in time to see her go down under a mass of new troops. "Felina!" Dimitri shouted, turning fully and beginning to fight the troops that had dog-piled her. It was no use, there were too many of them and the forces were coming too fast. Dimitri resigned himself to taking off for wherever Chloe was and making sure no one tried to attack her.

Just as he was running to her, Whitley began racing away from Chloe and back into the trees. "Retreat!" he shouted into an intercom on his wrist. At once, all of the troops that weren't injured began running toward the trees again and after a few minutes everyone heard the sound of helicopters taking off.

Everyone looked around to discern if there were any casualties on their side and everyone was relieved to find that none of their own were dead, just minor injuries. Chloe bent down on her knees, beginning to cough up blood. Immediately, Dimitri and Jasmine rushed over to her, patting her back and cooing reassurance to her. When Chloe was finished and the blood flow had stopped she looked around.

"Dimitri?" Dimitri avoided Chloe's gaze because he new the question she was about to ask and he couldn't stop the guilt from settling in his stomach. "Dimitri, where's Felina?"

"I'm sorry your majesty." Dimitri mumbled. "But the Order took her." Dimitri looked up and found that Chloe had gone completely pale and her eyes were wide open.

Jasmine waved a hand in front of her face and said, "She isn't breathing."

"Chloe?" Meredith said slowly.

As if saying her name was a kind of trigger, Chloe stood to her feet and turned to face the people with her. The look that Jasmine had come to fear was upon Chloe's face. Her eyes were constricted, but they were blue, her lips were pulled back over razor sharp teeth and her nostrils were flared as her nose formed a triangle. "I've made my choice." Chloe's voice was a deep, threatening growl that had all present shuddering in their shoes (or lack there of). "We are going to fight."

* * *

**_Ooh, they've pissed off Chloe. You'll have to wait a little longer for the next chapter, but review and tell me what you think of this one._**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok, here's chapter twelve for all those who are still reading. Check it out and enjoy! *flourishes hand***

* * *

**_Twelve_**

There was a collective gasp from everyone as they stared at Chloe. "But what about the peace treaty?" Alfred asked fearfully.

"They nixed the treaty as soon as they took my cousin." Chloe told him, her voice the same tone.

She straightened up and said in a commanding voice, "We need to gather together as many humans, Jackals and Mai as possible to build an army. Anyone who is willing to fight should be put into training immediately to make sure they know how to fight to their best. We'll need our best trainers for that. Others should be locating Mai and Jackals across the globe that aren't part of the Prides or Packs and finding out if they will join us. We need as many as possible."

"But Chloe," Valentina called. "This will take weeks!"

Chloe smiled at her mirthlessly and said, "For normal humans, yes it would. But you are not normal humans, you are not normal cats, you are not normal dogs. We have resources normal people don't have and we are going to use them. Swinging through trees will actually get you back to Imperatriz faster than walking. We need people to spread across the globe. It's going to be dangerous because Whitley could have already gotten people everywhere so we need people who are careful, but can still hold their own in a fight. The rest of us who aren't traveling have to train as hard as you can but not too hard because you still need to keep your energy up. Am I clear?"

"You really had this thought out, didn't you?" Amy asked, seeing a completely different side to her friend.

"More than even I knew I did, Amy." Chloe murmured.

At this, Dominic raised his fist in the air and shouted, "Long live Queen Chloe!"

Others took up the cheer until everyone was shouting it and Meredith leaned into Valentina's arms, gazing up at her daughter proudly as she smiled at the crowd praising her. Jasmine and Dimitri stood side-by-side, watching their blonde friend take the praise and after sharing look, they too shouted the mantra to the heavens, giving those miles away hope for survival.

* * *

Felina awoke in a darkened chamber that seemed eerily familiar to her.

"Ah, you've finally woken up I see."

"Whitley!" Felina snarled. Lights suddenly flooded the place and Felina's stomach sank; she was completely tied up in her own torture room.

"Surprised?" Whitley asked. "You should be. I resurrected your old room from the warehouse where you left your belongings. You shouldn't have been so careless with them, you know. Someone could…" Whitley withdrew a jagged knife from his back pocket and slid it along Felina's arm. "…get hurt."

With that, he slipped the knife higher up her arm, pressing the knife in just to give it enough pressure to make a very shallow cut. Felina kept her face blank so she didn't show any pain. Whitley knew that she wouldn't show any pain and he grinned maliciously down at her. "Won't talk? Well then, this should be fun."

He slid the knife into the cut he made and turned it around under the skin, beginning to work the knife along the underside of the top two layers of skin, much like a surgeon might do. Felina could feel her nerve-endings screaming at her brain, but she kept her face meticulously blank, not showing any outward sign of pain, though inside she was freaking out from the agony. Whitley's laughter filled her ears as he slowly dug his way underneath the skin of her arm, leaving a red blotch on the skin underneath her fur.

_This is true torture!_ Felina's mind gasped as Whitley soon picked up a poker with his other hand and applied it to the trail of blotched red, causing the wounds on the inside to burn further. When the poker finally left her skin, Felina glared up into the cold, dark eyes of her former employer and hissed, "Chloe is going to kill you when she discovers this!"

Whitley merely chuckled. "She won't be able to find me. This hideout is hidden in one place she would never dare to check out: the deepest, darkest, most dangerous part of the Amazon Rainforest where very few smaller animals are willing to come because of the larger animals that live here." Felina slowly hissed when he applied pressure to the burn he'd just given her.

"She won't give up until she finds me." Felina retorted, keeping her teeth clenched so she could speak audibly and intelligibly.

Whitley only smiled and shook his head. "In the meantime, I'm going to see how long you can last before you lose another life. And another, and another, and another…" he began working the knife under the skin of her other arm. "Until they're all gone."

Felina merely growled as his laughter filled her ears again. _I hope Chloe comes soon._ Felina prayed as the poker came back.

* * *

Chloe paced around the cabin that Francesca had told her that she could use and ran a hand through her hair. Jasmine, Meredith, Valentina and Amy watched her worriedly as she looked out the window and resumed pacing.

"Chloe, you should really calm down." Jasmine suggested slowly so as not to provoke the temperamental girl.

"I… I can't help thinking that it's all my fault that Felina was taken. I mean, I was too quick to believe that Manaus was safe. I should have posted scouts or something instead of gathering everyone in the town. That was a stupid move on my part and something that won't happen again while this mission is going on."

Jasmine stood and moved over to her friend, wrapping Chloe in a hug and holding the blonde close to her. "Chloe, we were all quick to believe that Manaus was safe from the Order. Francesca should have posted scouts as well, but she was too impatient to find out what the fuss was about. None of us were thinking because we wanted to either fight or make peace. What we need to do now is step back, take a deep breath and look at it from all angles. What could he have done with her? Where could he have gone? Why would he only take Felina?"

Chloe nodded and rested her head against Jasmine's chest, taking a few deep breaths before her eyes widened. "So that I'll come for her." Chloe gasped.

"Hm?" Jasmine asked in confusion, looking down at the girl in front of her.

"He wants me to come after her. He's going to try and make some weird deal so that I come alone and he can kill me in exchange for Felina. Or he's going to kill us both while we're together. He's going to make sure that she's too weak to fight back as well as she normally would be able to and he'll finish us that way."

Jasmine looked down at Chloe in bemusement, staring as her friend pulled away a bit and looked up at her. "I'll need backup if he decides to do that. I need a few Mai and a handful of Jackals. If they're caught then one of the Jackals can howl as loud as they could and signal the others that it was time to move into action."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. "Chloe, are you sure about this?"

"Positive." Chloe nodded. "It's like I have some weird connection with Felina, like I can almost see what she's thinking. She's knows him better than any of us, the way he works, talks, eats, sleeps. If she thinks he's going to do that, then I have no doubt in my mind that he will too."

Jasmine nodded with a small smile and Valentina chuckled. "Good use of your brain, Chloe."

Chloe nodded to her with a small smile, but it turned to a frown when the door was opened and four Jackals came in with Veronica and Laurent between them. "We found these humans trying to escape out of the forest, Queen Chloe. What would you like to do with them?"

Chloe studied the two humans carefully before shaking her head. "Could you put them in a guarded place until after we're finished deciding what to do about Whitley? I don't want them escaping and telling him what's going on."

"Yes, Your highness." The Jackals ushered the two traitors out and shut the door gently behind them.

Chloe sighed and put a hand to her head, closing her eyes against the pain of a headache. "This is too much for one moment." Chloe sighed, sitting on the bed she'd picked out.

"We know, Chloe." Meredith said, getting up and sitting next to her daughter, rubbing the blonde's back. Chloe leaned into her mother's side and sighed again.

"I just hope she's ok, Mom." The younger girl murmured. "I couldn't live with myself if she wasn't ok."

Meredith nodded and gently stroked Chloe's hair as Amy and Valentina excused themselves and Jasmine laid on the other bed. The trio stayed liked that for a long time, Jasmine watching the mother daughter moment while Meredith comforted her daughter.

At last, Meredith glanced down and found that she had lulled Chloe into sleep. Looking over at the other girl, she found that Jasmine was also asleep and smiled, slowly laying Chloe on her bed. Before she left, Meredith heard a soft rumbling sound and glanced back to see that Chloe had made her way over to Jasmine's bed and had curled up with the older girl. Listening intently, Meredith realized that it must have been purring and she shook her head with an amused smile gracing her lips. Closing the door behind her, Meredith let out a long, heavy sigh before heading toward the cabin she was sharing with Valentina, Amy and Paul.

_Sleep is probably the best thing right now._

* * *

**_Awww, they were PURRING! How cute is that? Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter and don't forget to hit review before clicking for the next chapter. And as Elvis would say, *flips hair and grins cheekily* "Uh thank you, thank you very much!"_**


	13. Chapter 13

**Here's chapter thirteen, y'all. It's a bit short, but it's still one of those good chapters… I think. You tell me.**

* * *

**_Thirteen_**

Chloe watched the trainers instruct their students on different techniques and felt proud of how hard everyone was working to put things together for the battle. _Can I call it a battle or a war?_ The blonde mused to herself. _Well, it's been going on for ages, so I guess I could call it a war._ Chloe shook her head and continued watching the trainees spar with each other, the trainers giving them tips on form and technique. The blonde watched for a few more moments before she felt a familiar presence nearby.

"Hey Jazzy," Chloe said, not taking her eyes off the sparring pairs.

"How is her majesty this morning?" came the reply.

Chloe's head whipped around so fast that her blonde curls swung around too. "W-what?" the younger girl asked.

"I just asked you how your morning was." Jasmine replied, slightly confused.

"No, you called me, 'her majesty'."

Jasmine cocked her head to the side. "But that's your title."

Chloe wrinkled her nose a bit. "Not for you, it's not. It's always been Chloe and Jasmine between us. I want it to stay that way."

Jasmine smiled and nodded. "Alright, Chloe and Jasmine it is. The disturbingly daring duo." The two shared a small laugh before going back to watching the spars.

All of a sudden, Jasmine turned to Chloe and asked, "Would you like to spar with me?" Chloe turned to her in confusion. "You know, so that we can both be prepared to fight too. I am your mate after all, they're bound to try and get to me."

Chloe's eyes widened and she paled slightly at the mention of being mates, but her anxiety was almost immediately by the thought of Jasmine being unprepared but a main target. "Yeah, let's grab a circle."

The girls went over to the only sparring circle available and Chloe blushed at the fact that it was in the very center of the other rings. She and Jasmine shifted into fighting crouches and waited a moment before making a mutual consent to begin. Jasmine made the first move, jumping at Chloe with a fist raised only to have Chloe dodge and kick out a foot to trip the brunette. Jasmine jumped over the kick and lashed out again, catching Chloe in the chest. The blonde moved away a bit and mock snarled at Jasmine; the brunette mock growled back and the two broke into smiles as they charged each other head on.

Jasmine wasn't sure if Chloe was going to ram into her or jump over her so she steeled herself for Chloe jumping over her. She had been wrong however, because as soon as she slowed down to await Chloe's ascent, Chloe rammed right into her chest. Jasmine's breath left her for a moment and she coughed slightly, sending a few swipes at Chloe. The blonde skittered out of the way and smirked at Jasmine as the older girl stood again. Without warning, Jasmine launched herself at Chloe and took the blonde offguard, causing them both to topple to the ground. Chloe lifted her legs and kicked Jasmine off, doing a backflip and crouching on her feet as Jasmine slid a few feet and smiled. This time when the two charged, they began trading bats, swipes and blows, blocking each other's blows effectively as no actual hits were landed.

After what seemed like forever, the two girls finally stopped and dropped their arms, smiling at each other. Both took in a deep breath and then redoubled their attacks. It seemed that the same thing was going to happen again when suddenly, Chloe dropped to the ground and swiped Jasmine's feet from underneath her. Jasmine yelped as she crashed onto her back and Chloe pinned her down.

With a small smile, Jasmine nodded and Chloe stood, holding her hand out. Jasmine took it and stood, shaking Chloe's hand in a truce. There was a moment of silence as the two registered that all of the other sparring pairs and even the trainers had stopped to watch them. Then, a raucous cheer went up as everyone shouted their names. Chloe ducked her head and blushed as Jasmine gave the crowd a small smile.

"Come on," Jasmine chuckled, looking at her blonde friend. "Let's go get something to drink." Chloe nodded and waved to the sparring pairs before following Jasmine away from the arenas. They went to a small stream that ran near the town and cupped their hands, taking a quick drink.

"You did really well." Jasmine said softly to which Chloe shrugged. "I learned from the best."

A small smile made it's way onto Jasmine's face as the older girl ducked her head at the praise. "Thank you." She murmured, wiping her hands dry on her small skirt.

Chloe turned and froze; there were small droplets of water clinging to Jasmine's plump lips, giving them an almost pouting look. As the blonde watched, Jasmine's smooth pink tongue darted out and licked the drops away, leaving a coating of moisture. Chloe's breath deepened as her mind ran into fantasies about those lips.

Shaking her head, Chloe took a few deep breaths before saying, "We had better get back to camp."

Jasmine nodded with a raised eyebrow at Chloe's strange behavior and the two girls made their way back to the camp only to find it being attacked again. Luckily, the trainers and trainees had been on their way back from the training arenas when the troops struck. Every Mai, human and Jackal that had come from around the world to help began fighting the troops immediately; the three species together easily outnumbered the Order and had all of the troops running for cover except one. He stood his ground as Chloe's men surrounded him.

He looked right at the blonde and said, "He wants to exchange her for you. It's been three weeks now and she's not talking. He'd much rather have the Uniter than her pathetic cousin."

Chloe shook with anger at that, but she carefully kept it under control as she looked the soldier dead in the eyes and asked, "Where?"

* * *

Felina tugged at the thick rope around her wrists as the water continued running down her nose, but they were as stubborn as she was. The blonde cat woman refused to breathe and beg for mercy just so her captor could get a pleasure kick; she would rather drown before giving Whitley that satisfaction that he'd finally gotten to her.

So, she continued tugging at the thick coils of rope as the water stung her nostrils and eyes. When the water flow stopped, Whitley knelt down next to Felina and the ex-assassin took that time to spit water at him; she had sucked the water from her nose down to her mouth so that she wouldn't drown. The Order leader staggered back and wiped his face in disgust.

"More water." He ordered the man that was spraying Felina.

Felina quickly drew in a deep breath before the water came back, spraying her harder than before. This had been going on for at least an hour, but Felina continuously refused to show that she was in pain or exhausted. Whitley finally began showing his irritation at her lack of response and she decided to taunt him through the torture.

Wiggling her body so that her paws faced him, she began signing to him in ASL. **I-S T-H-E B-I-G B-A-D O-R-D-E-R L-E-A-D-E-R G-E-T-T-I-N-G A-N-G-R-Y-?**

Whitley's eyes narrowed and he shook his head curtly before signing back. **A-R-E Y-O-U G-O-I-N-G T-O T-A-L-K A-N-Y-T-I-M-E S-O-O-N-?**

**N-O-T F-O-R Y-O-U, N-O.** Felina replied, her lips tugging into a smirk even though she was upside down.

Whitley's eyes narrowed further until they were slits and he made a motion for the man to stop. This time, Felina spat out the water before Whitley knelt next to her and laughed hoarsely. Whitley punched her across the jaw, but Felina just continued laughing, watching as her old employer grew more and more annoyed with her.

"Keep laughing!" Whitley snarled. "But you won't be laughing when your precious cousin shows up within an hour to reclaim you and take your place."

Felina's eyes widened and her smile fell. "Chloe wouldn't do that!" she hissed. "She knows how precious she is to the world."

Whitley snickered at her and shook his head. "But you are important to her too because you are a link to her real family. She'd do anything to keep you with her."

Felina shook her head disbelievingly and snorted derisively. As Whitley began walking away, Felina shook her head again and thought, _Chloe wouldn't do anything to risk her lives. She knows the entire world is counting on her. He's just trying to mess with my head. _ But even as she thought this, Felina felt something bad deep in her stomach.

* * *

**_Yes, Felina knows American Sign Language, as well as Portuguese, Spanish, English, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Arabic. Booyah! Tell me what you think of these developments. Review… or feel my wrath!_**


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's the fourteenth chapter. Hope you like it. I know I liked writing it, hehe.**

* * *

**_Fourteen_**

Chloe took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing with Jasmine beside her. She knew that this could quite possibly be her last time seeing the other girl if the plan failed, but she needed to make sure Felina was safe. Jasmine took Chloe's hands in her own and squeezed them tenderly.

"Are you sure about this, Chloe?" the older girl asked softly.

"She's my cousin, Jasmine." Chloe replied just as softly. "I can't just let her suffer when they want me."

"But what if the plan fails?" Jasmine continued. "The world can't lose you, Chloe. **I** can't lose you."

Chloe took one of her hands out of Jasmine's grasp and stroked the other girl's cheek. "I'll always return for you, Jasmine." She cooed, staring into the brown eyes of the other girl.

Jasmine leaned into the touch and sighed. "I'm holding you to that, Miss King."

Chloe laughed softly and nodded, throwing her arms around Jasmine's neck in a hug. The sound of someone clapping drew her away and she turned to see Whitley stepping out of the shadows with another soldier holding Felina behind him.

"Chloe!" Felina shouted in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you back to safety." Chloe replied.

"By risking your own?" Felina demanded incredulously. Chloe nodded and slowly began walking forward until she was at the center of the clearing. Whitley grabbed Felina and met her in the center, smirking at her triumphantly.

"Well, I must say that betraying the trust of all three of the races isn't what I expected from the great and mighty Uniter. It seems Mai are more untrustworthy than I thought." Chloe snarled lowly at him, but said nothing. "Here, take your precious cousin. I don't think it would be as much fun torturing you as it was her. She can withstand it to great heights, but you're too weak to do as well as she has."

Chloe held onto Felina as the cat woman was thrust at he. She could feel her cousin's ribs poking through the fur and the scars were very much visible. "I'll kill you." Chloe spat through her teeth as Whitley laughed maliciously.

"Oh, I think not Uniter. For now, all three of you will fall."

With that, he snapped his fingers and there was the whoosh of arrows. Felina and Chloe looked at each other in horror before both jumped for Jasmine, pinning her to the ground. Jasmine let out a startled cry and a few yards away, in the trees, a howl went up. Whitley looked angry that they had avoided the arrows and soldiers surrounded the clearing.

"This is your last chance to surrender, Uniter." Whitley growled at the three women who were standing from the ground.

Chloe cocked her head slightly and listened to the sounds of rushing feet, smiling as she deduced how close they were. Looking the Order leader right in the face, Chloe snarled, "Not on your life, Whitley."

The man's face twisted into an angry smile of vicious victory and he replied, "So be it. Kill them!"

All of the soldiers were getting ready to shoot and Felina and Chloe shielded Jasmine with their bodies so she would be protected. But just as one of the soldiers shot, a Jackal jumped in front of him and intercepted the bullet, getting shot instead. As if this broke a dam, all of Chloe's forces filled the clearing as well and the two armies faced each other, tension filling the air. The slightest sound seemed like it could set either side off. On soldier stepped forward quietly and took a shot at one of the younger Mai. The shot rang out and as one, Chloe's army charged forward, surging toward the Order's forces.

Chloe and Felina let go of Jasmine as they set their eyes on Whitley. Jumping into the trees, they followed the Order leader as he took off down a hidden path away from the hideout. The two Mai jumped from branch to branch as they followed him out of the darkness and further into the safer parts of the Jungle. Felina cocked her head and listened for a moment, hearing the sounds of running water. Motioning to Chloe, Felina gestured to her ears and told the other girl to listen; Chloe did as told and nodded when she heard the water. They jumped down behind Whitley and startled him into turning around.

"Give it up, Whitley." Chloe growled, going into a fighting crouch. "You can't take on both of us."

Whitley laughed at that and said, "One of you is weak and the other is inexperienced. I think I can take on the both of you."

With that, he jumped at the girls and began throwing punches. Chloe blocked the majority of the punches, trying her best to keep Felina shielded, but Whitley's attacks were coming faster and faster, making Chloe slightly dizzy as she tried to keep up with them all. One punch in particular came out of nowhere and nailed the blonde in the chin, causing her to stumble backward into a tree.

Whitley's blows didn't slow as he continued beating the Uniter, but Felina wasn't going to let him off that easy. Sinking her claws into his shoulder, she pulled him away from her cousin and kicked him toward the rushing river. Whitley snarled at her and sent a roundhouse kick at her side. Felina staggered away a bit, winded from the blow. Whitley grinned at her maliciously and began throwing punches left and right.

Chloe shook her head and jumped at the fighting pair, nailing Whitley in the center of his chest. He stumbled again, but he only smirked and threw a small object at them. Felina was a bit slow in getting to Chloe so they were both blasted into a tree. Whitley sneered at them as he tried to catch his breath from the hard workout. Someone cleared their throat nearby and the Order leader turned to see Valentina and Meredith standing before him with their arms crossed.

Whitley sneered at them in triumph and asked, "What are you going to do?"

Meredith ran at him with all the speed she possessed and, while he was distracted by surprise, socked him in the jaw and made him stumble into the river. Chloe and Felina watched as he stood again and snarled at Chloe's mother. Before he could move, however, he doubled over in pain and the river began flowing red. Chloe gasped in horror and ran towards the river, but Valentina tackled her to the ground.

"You'll be eaten too." She stated calmly.

"But… but…" Chloe couldn't take her eyes away from the sight before her.

Piranhas were coming from every direction, attacking the Order leader and biting off chunks of flesh, sometimes taking bone with them. The fear in Whitley's eyes was nearly palpable as he tried to fight the fish off, but they kept coming. With one last flail of his arm, Whitley fell into the water and the carnivorous fish jumped all over his body. Valentina felt Chloe shaking underneath her and realized the younger girl was sobbing. She slowly got off of Chloe and knelt next to the blonde.

"Oh my God." Chloe cried, unable to take her eyes off the river, the spot where Whitley had fallen.

Felina knelt on her other side and rubbed her back. "He's gone, Chloe."

Meredith and Valentina echoed the statement, watching the tears flow from Chloe's eyes. "He's gone."

* * *

**_Death… by PIRANHAS! *Cackles madly * I liked it. I was thinking about those Piranha movies, you know? Piranha, Piranha II (Attack of the Flying Piranha) and the most recent being Piranha 3D, which is a lot more *smirk * provocative than the other two if I must add. Review and tell me what you think. I had initially thought of killing him by being eaten by an alligator, but that seemed to lack the horror of actually watching the guy panic and flail, you know?_**


	15. Chapter 15

**Here's fifteen. I'm in the process of brushing up sixteen a bit so that it's more presentable, but take this as a token of my appreciation for all your support. (Shrek… WATCH IT!)**

* * *

**_Fifteen_**

Meredith helped Chloe stand and Valentina helped Felina to her feet, all four of them making their way back to Manaus. As they entered, a cheering went up at the sight of Chloe alive. Chloe looked around at all of the excited faces and sighed, turning into her mother's embrace. Everything quieted when everyone realized that something was wrong with the queen.

After a long pause a small Jackal stepped forward and asked tentatively, "Is he dead?" This broke Chloe's dam of tears and she turned into her mother's chest as she cried.

Valentina sighed and nodded. "He's dead."

There was still a sense of confusion in the air as everyone tried to figure out why the queen was so distraught.

"Then why's Chloe crying?" Jasmine and Amy demanded.

"Because it's the way he died that has scarred her." Valentina replied wearily. "He was eaten by piranhas."

Safire, Francesca and all of the other Brazilian Mai gasped and looked at Chloe in concern. "It's a horrible thing to see." Safire murmured. "Something not even wished on one's worst enemy."

When Chloe's tears cleared up, she glanced around and sighed. "I need to hold council with the heads of the Mai Prides and Jackal Packs so that we can figure some things out, but the rest of you are free to return to your homes."

All of the Mai, Jackals and humans nodded and dispersed to get their things together to leave. Chloe headed toward Francesca's cabin so that they could discuss what to do with the new empire. All of the leaders gathered around Chloe anxiously, wanting to make sure their queen was alright. "I am placing you all in charge of your districts. Josef, you will be in charge of the eastern United States, all of Canada and all of Mexico."

"What?" Alfred demanded. "Why does he get the country that speaks Spanish? The Spanish Mai should…" He trailed off at the cold look Chloe was giving him.

"He is in charge of Mexico because Mexico is closer to the United States than it is to Spain."

Alfred nodded and ducked his head as Chloe went on. "Alfred, you will be in charge of all of the countries that are parallel to Spain. Where Spain ends and meets the next country is where your district stops."

Alfred looked at her in utter confusion and Chloe sighed. "Do any of you have a world map?"

Francesca pulled one out of a drawer and handed it to the blonde. Chloe used a pen that Alfred presented to her to draw lines on the map. "Does everyone clearly see where their region is?"

All heads nodded and Francesca took a closer look. "I have half of central America and all of the south?" she asked slowly to which Chloe nodded. "Alright then."

"If we've gotten that settled, then everything is clear. I will make annual trips around to see how things are progressing with the interspecies connections. Is everything fine with this?"

There was a pause as everyone thought through what had been said and there were no objections. Chloe nodded and resigned back to the cabin she shared with Jasmine. Lying down, she fell into a fitful sleep; images of Whitley's terrified face and the piranhas tearing meat from his body plagued her mind. During the night, Chloe awoke with a scream and instantly strong arms embraced her as a soft voice cooed to her. Chloe sniffed and laid in Jasmine's arms until she fell asleep again. Jasmine laid back with Chloe still in her arms and drifted to sleep as well.

* * *

The next morning, everyone loaded into multiple planes and jets that had been called in by Felina and everyone around bowed to Chloe before cheering for her as she waved from the black jet she had started in. Now, the group was back down to its original number of seven, just with three new additions making it ten. Safire and Raton weren't leaving their younger sister ever again and Dimitri was elated to have Felina back in his arms. They all headed to San Francisco and Meredith dropped Amy and Paul off at their homes before everyone went to the King residence.

"Home!" Chloe exclaimed when the house came into view. Meredith laughed as her daughter jumped out of the car and jumped onto the grass.

"Wow, I missed this place." Chloe sighed, looking up at the fluffy white clouds that made their way across the sky.

Jasmine chuckled and pulled her up, hugging the blonde to her body. Chloe blushed and hugged her friend back. After a moment, Chloe pulled back and looked up at Jasmine, the brown eyes capturing her own deep blue once more. As Jasmine slowly leaned in, Chloe fought with herself on whether she should kiss the other girl. Her friends and family were watching as well, but that didn't seem to matter to Jasmine. At last, Chloe's panic won and the blonde took a step back.

Safire and Raton groaned loudly as Felina screamed to the sky. "What now?" she demanded.

"I… I… I can't do it." Chloe murmured, stepping completely away from Jasmine. "I can't kiss Jasmine."

"Why not?" Safire asked. "It's not like you haven't already done it!"

Chloe shook her head at that. "I wasn't myself when I kissed her. It was the pressure I was under." Chloe looked up at Jasmine to see her friend turning away. "Jasmine…"

"No Chloe, it's ok. I get it. You're still in love with Alek and Brian. There's no room for me in the mix."

Before Chloe could say anything else, Jasmine had jumped onto the porch overhang of another house and begun running on the rooftops towards her apartment. Chloe watched her go and sighed unhappily. Meredith walked over and laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"I didn't mean to chase her away." Chloe murmured. "I just can't have my heart broken again. Jasmine only has one life and I still have five."

Meredith shook her head. "You should really give her a chance Chloe. She's been holding out for you ever since she met you. She's going through a lot of pain right now."

Chloe nodded and began making her way back inside. As she was walking into her room, she felt a searing pain go through her wrist. Chloe couldn't process what was happening, but she knew that Jasmine was hurt and might be dying. Jumping back out the window, Chloe took off running for Jasmine's apartment building, panic making her mind numb to everything else. She heard feet pounding behind her, but paid no mind as she sped up the stairs of the building to Jasmine's apartment. Kicking the door down when it wouldn't open, Chloe gasped to find Jasmine bleeding out on the floor.

A cut on her wrist made Chloe's eyes widen in hysteria and she immediately went about covering the cut and stopping the blood flow. Tearing off her shirt and ripping into it, she began lapping at the blood with her tongue and tried to get the blood to clot. After what felt like eternity, Chloe finally got the blood to stop and wrapped the torn cloth around the cut. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that Jasmine hadn't lost too much blood and tears filled her eyes as she watched her friend awaken.

"Ch-Chloe?" Jasmine slurred. "Am I dead?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, you aren't dead and I'm so glad you're not. Jasmine, I'm so sorry; I know I cause you pain when I refuse to acknowledge your love for me or even my love for you, but please… this isn't the right way to ignore it."

"What are you talking about?" Jasmine asked. "I was crying when I came in and accidentally stumbled into the lamp near the couch." Jasmine pointed to a shattered lamp and continued. "I was trying to clean it up when one of the sharper pieces cut my wrist. I ran to the bathroom to try and get a rag or something to clean it up, but there was too much blood. I was making my way out here to get to the phone, but I got dizzy and passed out."

Chloe stared at her friend in confusion for a moment before wrapping her arms around the brunette's head and kissing her. Jasmine was surprised for a moment but she soon relaxed into the kiss and responded in kind. The two sat there on the floor in a small puddle of blood, kissing each other with reckless abandon and it was then that Chloe finally accepted that she was in love with Jasmine and Alek wasn't coming back.

When oxygen became an issue, both girls pulled back and stared into each others' eyes. "I'm sorry." Chloe murmured. "I didn't know… but now I do." Jasmine smiled and hugged Chloe to her.

There was an 'aw' from the doorway and both girls turned to see Felina, Safire and Raton standing in the doorway with Meredith and Valentina smiling behind them. Chloe blushed and buried her head in Jasmine's shoulder as Felina began laughing. "I knew she couldn't resist for long." The blonde cat cheered.

Meredith smiled at Chloe over Safire's shoulder and nodded in approval. "Come on," Meredith called to all of them. "Let's go get something to eat. I'm sure you're all hungry after such a long flight from Brazil."

Five pairs of ears perked up at the sound of food and all five of the Mai raced for the car, Chloe and Jasmine quickly catching up with the three Spanish siblings. Meredith laughed and turned back to Valentina.

"I knew they would make up." Valentina murmured, stealing a kiss from Meredith's lips.

"It would just take time." Meredith added. Giggling, the two adults headed after the five teenagers.

* * *

That night, Chloe and Jasmine laid together in bed. Chloe felt need rising in her and knew that she wanted to make love to Jasmine, but she was unsure of how.

"Chloe, just ask the question." Chloe looked up at her friend and quirked an eyebrow. "You want to ask a question. I can tell because you're fidgeting and your eyebrows have that small dip in them. What's wrong?"

Chloe took a deep breath and tried explaining her problem to Jasmine. "I… I f-feel a kind of… n-need t-to do something… but I don't know h-how."

Jasmine watched Chloe twitch slightly and knew what the other girl meant. "Chloe?" the blonde looked up. "Would it make you feel better if I initiated it?"

Chloe looked at her in relief and nodded slowly. Jasmine slowly walked over to the bed and laid Chloe back, kissing her passionately as she did so. Chloe tried to let herself relax, but she was too new to this, too unsure of what she should do.

"Chloe?" Jasmine pulled back and stroked the blonde's cheek. "You have to let yourself relax. If we are going to bond with each other, both of us need to relax or it won't work."

Chloe gulped and tried to relax, but the thoughts kept plaguing her mind. Jasmine thought a moment on what to do and an idea came to mind. Moving behind Chloe, Jasmine began rubbing the younger girl's shoulders, digging her fingers into the soft flesh and trying to relieve the tension. Chloe moaned softly at the wonderful feeling and felt herself beginning to relax. Jasmine smiled as she felt Chloe's muscles loosening up and she continued her de-stressing movements for a few moments more before leaning down to kiss along Chloe's neck. The blonde turned her head to the side slightly to give Jasmine more space and sighed in content when the sweet lips continued their assault of her throat.

At last, Jasmine turned Chloe slowly to face her and kissed her gently. Chloe responded to the kiss gently and the girls fell back on the bed. Jasmine nipped Chloe's bottom lip before taking it between her own and sucking it softly. Chloe moaned and moved her lips to Jasmine's neck, making the older girl groan out. Jasmine licked Chloe's bottom lip and the blonde instantly granted her access, their tongues meeting together. Electricity surged through both girls as their tongues caressed each other and Jasmine rolled on top of Chloe. At this small movement, some of Chloe's tension returned, but Jasmine's hands were working wonders on her body.

Jasmine pulled back from the kiss and looked Chloe dead in the eyes. "Please Chloe, do you want this?" Chloe gulped and nodded. "Then please, _please_… let yourself go. Don't think, just **feel**."

Those words, spoken so softly, so deeply, finally caused Chloe to snap. Throwing her inhibitions to the wind, Chloe leaned up and snagged Jasmine's lips in another searing kiss and finally let herself feel.

* * *

**_No! No, no, no, no, no! I REFUSE to make this story an M rated one. I just proved with its prequels that I can break away from the M rating a bit and this is the thing that just proved it. Now if I could just get up the courage to write a male/female story… ah, I'll work out my issues later. You guys review the chapter tot tell me how you liked it._**


	16. Chapter 16

**_Chapter sixteen_**

The next morning, Chloe and Jasmine awoke about the same time; Chloe groaned and snuggled a bit more into Jasmine as the tanned girl wrapped her arm more securely around the blonde. Chloe's blue eyes slowly blinked open and took in the morning light while Jasmine's stayed closed.

"Should we get up?" Chloe asked softly.

"No, it's too early."

Chloe raised an eyebrow and smiled as she leaned up to peck Jasmine on the cheek. "Come on, Jazzy, we really should get up. It looks almost noon."

"But I don't want to leave my bed or my mate's warm body."

At that moment, the door burst open and Felina, Safire and Raton rushed in… stopping short at the sight before them. The girls hadn't bothered to cover up last night, deciding that it was too warm in the house to do so. So, the three siblings were slack-jawed as they stood in the doorway gazing at the equally as stunned girls on the bed.

"Why is everyone in the hall?" a voice asked. "Chloe, what are you-?" Meredith stopped when she saw the sight before her; unlike the three Spanish siblings, she took immediate action. Turning her back to her daughter, Meredith began ushering Raton, Safire and Raton out of the room.

"Let them get dressed before you make any comments. Girls, get dressed. We'll talk later."

Everyone left the room and Jasmine groaned. "Can't stay in bed now because she's probably going to tell my mom."

Chloe giggled and hopped off the bed. Jasmine leaned back and gave a wolf-whistle before also getting out of bed. Jasmine borrowed some of Chloe's bigger clothes and the two made their way down to breakfast. Felina gave them both a leer as Safire wiggled her eyebrows and Raton merely stared with a dreamy expression. Chloe blushed as she sat at the table and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket.

"So, how was your night?" Safire asked with a sly grin as Felina just burst out laughing.

Chloe buried her face in Jasmine's shoulder to hide her growing blush as Jasmine hid her face in Chloe's hair, also hiding a blush. After Felina's laughter had died down, Chloe finally looked up with a sigh of relief and mumbled, "It was a good night."

This redoubled Felina's laughter and she excused herself to the guest room where the three siblings had spent the night together. Chloe held her head in her hands to hide her returning blush while Jasmine boldly beat her own blush down completely.

"Well, I'm glad you two finally got together." Safire told them sincerely. "You were hurting each other too much; your scars would have eaten into your skin before long and killed you."

Chloe's eyes widened in realization and she lifted her shirt to stare at her stomach in wonder. "My scar's gone!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Jasmine's eyes widened and she too looked down at her stomach, a large smile making its way onto her face as she saw that her own scar was gone. "We're completely healed." She said happily.

"The scars were only there because the two of you wouldn't, couldn't, be together." Safire explained. "But the more Chloe ignored the love she held for Jasmine, the more the scars tried to tell her that Jasmine was the one for her. Jasmine's was slowly forming the name Chloe King while Chloe's was slowly forming the name Jasmine Ramirez."

"But now that you two are together, the scars have done their work." Raton stated, leaning back in the chair and folding his arms across his bare chest.

Chloe turned to Jasmine with a happy smile. "Well, it's better than dying somewhere in Spain."

"And being eaten in the Amazon Jungle." Jasmine shuddered.

"Or being shot eight times in the chest." Chloe added, her face twisting slightly.

"I think the queen has done an excellent job well done." Felina said, returning to the kitchen.

"She couldn't have done a thing without her family." Chloe said, looking up at her mom and Valentina before twining her fingers with Jasmine's and beaming at her cousins.

"Now the only thing left is to rule an entire planet." Valentina commented.

Chloe looked at Valentina with a raised eyebrow and said, "Shouldn't be too hard."

* * *

**There! Finished! YES! Review and tell me what you think of it. I have some Chlasmine one-shots to do.**


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